Tepelena prison “has major structural deficiencies and is almost unfit to be used as a penal institution”, and as a result, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe recommends its closure to the Albanian authorities. A report drawn up after a visit that a delegation of this Committee made to Albania in May of last year points out that “the environments of Tepelena prison were degraded”.
According to the document published on Friday, “the cells located on the ground floor were poorly ventilated, many of them were also in a bad state of repair. The communal showers were dilapidated and there were numerous complaints from prisoners about insufficient heating in winter. A number of prisoners were kept in very narrow environments, where the cells offered less than 3 m2 of living space per person”. In the Committee’s assessment, “the current situation in this institution seriously affects the quality of life of the prisoners and the working conditions of the staff” noting that interventions for essential improvements would be at a very high cost. “Therefore, the Committee recommends that high priority be given to withdrawing from the service of this prison”, the report underlines.
A problematic situation also appears, according to the report, in Block A of prison 313 in Tirana, where the Committee expresses concern that “despite the guarantees given by the Albanian authorities during the visit in 2018, the old Block A had not undergone a major renovation . Detention conditions in this building remained extremely poor (severe overcrowding, very limited access to natural light, poor cell ventilation, damp walls, etc.) and in some cases could be considered inhumane and degrading treatment.” But the delegation emphasizes that it has received guarantees that the Albanian government has allocated the necessary funds for the complete reconstruction of this Block.
And in hospitals where prisoners are treated, the condition is assessed as critical in some cases. “Despite the obvious improvements made in the Tirana Prison Hospital, the Committee continues to consider that the living conditions offered to patients remain inadequate,” the report reads. Likewise, a temporary environment, adapted in the prison of Lezha, where incarcerated patients who were previously held in the Special Institution for Detainees with Mental Diseases in Zahari i Kruja, are housed, suffers from “overcrowding, lack of medical personnel and therapeutic, while the building is inappropriate”. A situation which, according to the report, “undoes, almost totally, any positive contribution that could have been made, after the transfer in 2021. Even worse, if the number of patients continues to increase, the living conditions in the temporary facility could easily degrade even further, up to an inhuman and degrading treatment”. According to the document, the Albanian authorities intend to build a new facility that will gather all patients with health problems, mainly mental, and for this they have applied for funding within the framework of Instrument III of Pre-Accession Assistance of the European Union.
A major problem, inherited over time, remains overcrowding in prisons and detention. Albania is estimated to have “one of the highest levels of imprisonment among the member countries of the Council of Europe”. The number of pre-trial detainees has increased by 22 percent, making up more than half of the prison population. The committee notes that this phenomenon “as acknowledged by the authorities, remained a major challenge for the prison administration in ensuring satisfactory living conditions throughout the prison system.” According to the report, “Albanian authorities should give a high priority to measures designed to tackle the problem of prison overcrowding at its roots, in order to put an end to this phenomenon once and for all.” In particular, strong efforts should be made to limit the use of detention, and to reduce the time spent by prisoners in detention facilities, with the aim of halting the continued growth of the detention population and reversing the current trend.” .
Meanwhile, the report has positively established the fact that detainees are not prevented from having access to a defense lawyer, as well as the treatment of persons who had been in custody or police institutions, except for some isolated episodes. However, the Committee assesses that “strong additional action is still required to eradicate police misconduct”.
