In its annual report for 2020, the CPT recalls that in many of its visits over the years it has found a failure to meet the basic needs of prisoners in certain establishments, which could lead to situations in which prisoners are exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment.

The committee points out that that in several Council of Europe states the Covid-19 pandemic is taking place within a budgetary crisis in prison systems which affects prison budgets and the prison staff. During its visits, the CPT has increasingly found that significant cuts have affected the quality of living of detainees, in issues such as food, heating, the regime of activities, access to work and time outside cells.

The CPT notes that austerity measures can increase poverty among prisoners, make items scarcer or more expensive, and restrict inmates’ contact by telephone with their families or their ability to make small purchases. This problem can particularly affect prisoners with no income from their families or outside sources, who constitute a significant proportion of the prison population in many countries.

The committee considers that all persons deprived of liberty should be provided, at minimum, with ready access to sufficient clean drinking water, adequate food in quantity and nutritional value, decent sleeping and living conditions, and the means to keep clean. Other essential minimal requirements are having ready access to adequate healthcare services, effective access to work and its fair remuneration, access to other purposeful activities and to regular contact with the outside world.

President of the CPT, Alan Mitchell, said: “Persons deprived of their liberty in prisons or in any other institution have a right to enjoy adequate living conditions.

“It is crucial to underline that certain of the fundamental social and economic rights of detained persons are indivisible from their right to be treated humanely. A threshold of decency should be respected in prisons at all times, including in the context of austerity measures triggered by economic crises.”