In a report published on Thursday 31 July and devoted to a visit carried out from 25 November to 5 December 2024 in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) once again calls on the authorities to abolish the practice of immobilising detainees - including minors - by strapping them to beds.
Such a practice should only be envisaged in a medical context, says the CPT, which nevertheless recommends examining alternative solutions such as placing agitated and violent persons in padded cells.
A number of persons interviewed by the CPT also reported ill-treatment and excessive use of force, both by the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan regional police force) and by prison staff.
In the face of these allegations, the Council of Europe experts are recommending the dissemination of a message of zero tolerance of all forms of ill-treatment, as well as a series of training measures and the recording of injuries suffered.
The Spanish authorities’ response details the measures taken to respond to the CPT's recommendations (recruitment of civil servants, introduction of appropriate programmes, creation of a training centre, etc.).
The management of the Mossos d’Esquadra, for its part, reaffirms its commitment to remedying the structural deficiencies highlighted by the CPT.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/i2e
Link to the Spanish authorities’ response: https://aeur.eu/f/i2f (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)