former inmate compensated for inhuman and degrading treatment due to jail overcrowding

[demoleft]

it happened to italy. the european court of human rights condemned italy to pay 1000€ to a bosnian guy due to his detention in conditions of overcrowding.

the Association Antigone, that fights for improvement of the jail system in italy, states that some 64000 inmates are presently kept in the same conditions in the italian jails.
this sentence should push the government(s) to solve the problem once and for all.

too thin a line between detention and torture, for the common inmates.

Codex-online publication date: 07/22/2009 03:09:22 PM
Date of Original Publication: 16/07/2009
Country: Italy

Summary: The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing its Chamber judgment in the case of Sulejmanovic v. Italy . The Court held:

· by five votes to two, that there had been a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the applicant’s conditions of detention from 30 November 2002 to April 2003 in Rebibbia Prison; and,

· unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 3 of the Convention regarding his conditions of detention from April 2003 to 20 October 2003.

Principal facts

The applicant, Mr Izet Sulejmanovic, is a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was born in 1973. At the material time he was detained in Rebibbia Prison in Rome. <BR>]
Between 1992 and 1998 Mr Sulejmanovic had been convicted a number of times on charges of robbery, attempted theft, handling stolen goods and forgery and sentenced to two years, five months and five days’ imprisonment. <BR>]
He was arrested on 30 November 2002, while making an application for a residence permit at the police authority (Questura), and imprisoned in Rebibbia Prison. He was given a prison sentence of nine months and five days. <BR>]
Mr Sulejmanovic was put in a number of different cells, each measuring 16.20 square metres (m2). He claimed that up until 15 April 2003 he had shared his cell with five other inmates, each having an average personal space of 2.70 m2, and, from 15 April to 20 October 2003, with four other inmates, each thus having an average personal space of 3.40 m2. He also alleged that he had spent more than eighteen hours per day in his cell and could only go out for four and a half hours. <BR>]
On 20 October 2003, having been granted a remission of sentence, he was released from prison.

the link to the sentence and source:
http://www.codex-online.com/codex/contents.nsf/vWebAccessDocuments/70ECAF0B6AD45EF0C22575FB0042C6A2?OpenDocument

the link to an italian newspaper:
http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_agosto_05/detenuto_carceri_risarcimento_8bcbee50-81b7-11de-8a09-00144f02aabc.shtml

ciao DUers.

[TexasObserver]

1. Recommend

[panader0]

2. I was in a smaller cell than that

never got to go out, and they made me pay $75 bucks per night. (Only 2 nights)