-711.
The decision to make the public statement was taken only after considerable reflection. As with the
earlier public statement of 15 December 1992, the statement of 6 December 1996 was issued in a constructive
spirit. The CPT hopes that it will motivate the Turkish authorities to take decisive action to stamp out the
practice of torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment by the police. In pursuit of that objective and in
furtherance of its mandate, the CPT is fully committed to continuing its dialogue with the Turkish authorities.
12.
In the course of several of its visits during 1996, the CPT once again encountered the evils of prison
overcrowding, a phenomenon which blights penitentiary systems across Europe. Overcrowding is often
particularly acute in prisons used to accommodate remand prisoners (i.e. persons awaiting trial); however, the
CPT has found that in some countries the problem has spread throughout the prison system.
13.
As the CPT pointed out in its 2nd General Report, prison overcrowding is an issue of direct relevance
to the Committee's mandate (cf. CPT/Inf (92) 3, paragraph 46).
An overcrowded prison entails cramped and unhygienic accommodation; a constant lack of privacy
(even when performing such basic tasks as using a sanitary facility); reduced out-of-cell activities, due to
demand outstripping the staff and facilities available; overburdened health-care services; increased tension and
hence more violence between prisoners and between prisoners and staff. This list is far from exhaustive.
The CPT has been led to conclude on more than one occasion that the adverse effects of overcrowding
have resulted in inhuman and degrading conditions of detention.
14.
To address the problem of overcrowding, some countries have taken the route of increasing the number
of prison places. For its part, the CPT is far from convinced that providing additional accommodation will
alone offer a lasting solution. Indeed, a number of European States have embarked on extensive programmes
of prison building, only to find their prison populations rising in tandem with the increased capacity acquired
by their prison estates. By contrast, the existence of policies to limit or modulate the number of persons being
sent to prison has in certain States made an important contribution to maintaining the prison population at a
manageable level.
15.
The problem of prison overcrowding is sufficiently serious as to call for cooperation at European level,
with a view to devising counter strategies. Consequently, the CPT was most pleased to learn that work on this
subject has recently begun within the framework of the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC). The
CPT hopes that the successful conclusion of that work will be treated as a priority.