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The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published the report on its periodic visit to Slovenia, which took place from 8 to 17 October 2024.
During the visit, the CPT examined the treatment of persons at Koper and Ljubljana Prisons and their conditions of detention. It also assessed the situation of persons living in Lukavci Special Social Welfare Establishment.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of prisoners in recent years, and most prisons in the country were operating well above their official capacity at the time of the visit. The increased number of persons held in prison not only adversely affected living conditions, but also negatively impacted many other areas of life in prison.
The problem of overcrowding was further exacerbated by another major challenge faced by the Slovenian prison system, namely understaffing and the difficulties in attracting new staff.
The Slovenian authorities should vigorously pursue their efforts to reduce the prison population.
As regards the two establishments visited, no credible allegations of physical ill-treatment of prisoners by staff were received. On the contrary, many prisoners interviewed by the CPT delegation stated that staff treated them correctly and professionally. However, at Koper Prison, the delegation received a few isolated allegations of verbal abuse of prisoners by staff.
Staff were aware of most episodes of inter-prisoner violence and intervened promptly and proportionately. However, tensions among prisoners were increasing and the number of recorded cases of inter‑prisoner violence was on the rise. Indeed, this situation was intrinsically linked to overcrowding and to the mixing of prisoners from different cultural backgrounds.
Material conditions at Koper Prison remained of a high standard in many respects, although the cells intended for double occupancy were actually accommodating three persons and were cramped. Moreover, some prisoners were sleeping on mattresses placed on the floor, which is inappropriate.
Ljubljana Prison was seriously overcrowded, with many cells providing only some 3.5 m2 of living space per person, or even as little as 2.7 m2, which clearly falls short of the CPT’s minimum standard of 4 m2 per prisoner in a multiple-occupancy cell.
The CPT gained a positive impression of the regime offered to sentenced prisoners in both establishments and notes the commendable efforts to provide out-of-cell time and some organised activities to those held on remand. However, a number of remand prisoners held under the closed‑door regime in both establishments were locked up in their cells for nearly 22 hours per day. Further efforts should be made to provide additional out-of-cell time and activities to remand prisoners in both prisons.
At the Lukavci Special Social Welfare Establishment, the CPT received no allegations and found no other indications of ill-treatment of residents by staff. Some episodes of violence between residents occurred but it appeared that staff intervened promptly and proportionately to de‑escalate the situation and separate the residents involved.
Material conditions in the three secure wards were excellent in most respects and the delegation gained a very good impression of the treatment, activities and care offered to residents. It is also positive that residents accommodated on closed wards were free to move within their wards and associate with other residents, and had free access to spacious outdoor areas.
Positively, mechanical restraint was not used in the social welfare establishment and manual control was used only when a resident needed to be isolated.
However, there is no clear legal basis in domestic law for the measure of chemical restraint. Moreover, the CPT has certain reservations with respect to the injections of rapidly acting tranquillisers by nurses on the basis of PRN (pro re nata, as needed) prescriptions, which is associated with significant risks to the health of the residents and places too much responsibility on nurses.
The CPT also found that understaffing and difficulties to retain and attract new staff threatened to undermine the care afforded to residents.
The report has been made public under the automatic publication procedure, in accordance with the agreement with the Slovenian authorities.
Source, text and photo – the CPT
