The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has released a report on its periodic visit to Croatia in September 2022.
The CPT delegation examined the treatment and conditions of detention of prisoners held in four prison establishments and criminal suspects deprived of their liberty by the Croatian police. They also visited three psychiatric establishments and two social care homes to assess the treatment of patients and residents. The CPT report notes a marked improvement in the treatment of criminal suspects deprived of their liberty since the previous visit in 2017, attributed to the strengthening of legal safeguards following the 2019 amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, some allegations of physical ill-treatment were received, mainly from Roma ethnicity criminal suspects.
The CPT found that the situation in prisons was severely impacted by the significant increase in the prison population in recent years and the reduced capacity of the prison estate due to damage caused by the 2020 earthquake. The CPT reiterates its position that the minimum living space for prisoners in multiple-occupancy cells should be at least 4 m2 per person and calls for vigorous measures to reduce the prison population to below the official capacity of the prison estate.
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