-5I.
ACTIVITIES IN 1997
A.
Visits
1.
The CPT carried out seven periodic visits during 1997 to, in chronological order, the Czech Republic
(16 to 26 February), Greece (25 May to 6 June), Estonia (13 to 23 July), Belgium (31 August to 12 September),
Turkey (5 to 17 October), the Netherlands (17 to 27 November) and Albania (9 to 19 December). This was the
first time the CPT had visited the Czech Republic, Estonia and Albania. As for the remaining countries, 1997
marked the second occasion on which the Committee had visited them on a periodic basis.
2.
In addition, six ad hoc visits were organised: to Spain (17 to 18 January and 21 to 28 April), Norway
(17 to 21 March), Luxembourg (20 to 25 April), the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man (8 to 17 September)
and the Netherlands Antilles (7 to 11 December).
The visit to Spain in January 1997 was organised in order to examine the treatment received by a
person who had very recently been detained by the Civil Guard, as well as to review the operation in his case of
formal safeguards against the ill-treatment of detained persons. As for the second ad hoc visit, in April 1997,
the CPT's delegation examined the treatment of immigration detainees in Ceuta, Málaga and Melilla.
The ad hoc visit to Norway focused on the detention in police establishments of persons remanded in
custody and on the solitary confinement by court order of remand prisoners. Both of these questions had
previously been the subject of recommendations by the CPT.
The main objective of the ad hoc visit to Luxembourg was to examine the situation of minors
deprived of their liberty. In addition, the delegation reviewed the action taken in response to certain
recommendations made previously with respect to Luxembourg Prison.
In the course of the ad hoc visit to the United Kingdom, the efficacity of existing legal remedies in
cases involving allegations of ill-treatment by police officers was assessed. Further, the visit afforded an
opportunity to review the measures being taken to tackle the problem of overcrowding in prisons in England
and Wales. The CPT's delegation also examined conditions of detention in the Isle of Man Prison, about
which the Committee had recently received information.
During the ad hoc visit to the Netherlands Antilles, the CPT's delegation made a detailed examination
of the situation at Koraal Specht Prison, in order to ascertain whether the recommendations made by the
Committee after the 1994 visit to that establishment had been implemented. The visit also afforded an
opportunity to re-examine conditions in the police detention facilities and the Criminal Investigation
Department in Rio Canario.
3.
In all, some 120 days of visits were carried out during the year. A list of the places of detention visited
by CPT delegations in 1997 is set out in Appendix 3.