A recent report from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) reveals the deplorable conditions in Italy’s pre-removal centres. The rights body highlights both the disrespect of detainees fundamental rights, as well as abysmal detention conditions, and raises concerns regarding Italy’s detention deal with Albania.
The CPT’s Report on its Visit to Italy’s CPRs
In December, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published a report on its April 2024 visit to four of Italy’s main pre-removal centres (Centri di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio or CPRs). The report focused on the treatment and conditions of detention in the CPRs of Milan (Via Corelli), Gradisca d’Isonzo, Potenza (Palazzo San Gervasio), and Rome (Ponte Galeria). Amongst a host of concerns identified by the rights body, the CPT highlighted poor material conditions, an excessive focus on security, inconsistent healthcare service quality, over-medication of detainees with psychotropic drugs, poor quality food, limited legal safeguards, and minimal transparency in the management of CPRs by private contractors.
Of particular concern were the allegations of physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police officers in response to disorder or acts of vandalism. The committee pointed to the violence that erupted at Milan CPR in February 2024–an episode highlighted at the time by the GDP–where authorities responded to detainee protest with violent repression. Noting the use of force, the rights body states “striking foreign nationals who show recalcitrant behaviour during their apprehension and detention is both unacceptable and unprofessional.” Similarly, the CPT criticised the employment of law enforcement agencies (such as anti-riot groups) to oversee the custody of immigration detainees, urging instead the creation of a dedicated and adequately trained corps of detention officers.
The Committee concluded that “[Italy’s] CPRs are not fit for purpose and that the treatment of persons held within them needs to significantly improve. … The CPT calls upon the Italian authorities to take resolute action to improve the approach and the general situation in CPRs in the light of the Committee’s recommendations.”
Concerns for Detainees in Albania
The CPT’s findings raise yet more concerns about Italy’s implementation of its detention model in Albania. Under the 2023 deal, Tirana agreed to Italy sending up to 36,000 migrants and asylum seekers intercepted at sea to processing centres in Albania operating under Italian jurisdiction. In October 2024, Italy’s ambassador to Tirana announced that the first reception centre–in a former Albanian Air Force site in Gjader–had opened.
The CPT–visiting Italy while facilities in Albania were still under construction–expresses significant concern about the deal, particularly with regards to the risk of de facto detention of persons transferred to Albania, the identification of vulnerable persons, healthcare coordination with Albanian authorities, and legal safeguards during detention and asylum processing. The committee also notes: “The findings of the 2024 visit outlined in this report, notably in relation to the very poor material conditions, absence of regime of activities, disproportionate security approach, variable quality of healthcare provision, as well as the complexity of the management of CPRs by private contractors, call into question the very use of such a model in Albania.”
The legality of the deal has been frequently challenged. In October, an Italian court ruled that the 12 Egyptian and Bangladeshi asylum seekers being held in Albania must be transferred to Italy, due to the risk of them facing violence if returned to their home countries. Another similar ruling was issued in November.
With the detention sites reportedly empty, Italian police officers and social workers have recently been repatriated in Italy given that their presence in empty centres was considered unnecessary. “The government has … spent a mountain of money and played with people’s rights. This will remain in history as a shameful page for our country,” said Elisabetta Piccolotti, an MP for the Green and Left Alliance party.
