The European Commission adopted, on Thursday 8 December, a Recommendation on the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons subject to pre-trial detention and on material detention conditions.
At the ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council of the EU in October 2021, EU ministers asked the Commission to opt for recommendations or guidelines to improve detention conditions, rather than proposing EU legislation.
The Recommendation sets out minimum standards measures, a number of which are already presented in different instruments, such as: - the use of pre-trial detention as a measure of last resort and the introduction of periodic reviews where its use is justified; - the establishment of minimum standards for cell sizes, outdoors time and nutrition and healthcare conditions.
The Recommendation also introduces specific measures to tackle radicalisation in prisons (initial risk assessment to determine the appropriate regime for detainees suspected or convicted of terrorist or violent extremist offences). Other measures are proposed for women and girls, LGBTIQ, foreign nationals, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable detainees, such as ensuring reasonable access to professional interpretation services.
Link to the Recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/4kx (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)