The main objective of the visit was to re-examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons held in prison. To this end, the CPT visited Prison no. 4 in Cricova, Prison no. 13 in Chișinău and Prison no. 18 in Brănești. Particular attention was paid to assessing the progress achieved by the Moldovan authorities in addressing inter-prisoner violence and intimidation.
In the report, the Committee highlights that the phenomenon of informal prisoner hierarchy and the resulting inter-prisoner violence and intimidation remain largely unaddressed and prisons still generally fail to ensure a safe environment for incarcerated persons. The situation of persons considered to be “humiliated” or “untouchable”, that is, those on the lowest “caste” of the informal prisoner hierarchy, remains a matter of serious concern and the CPT considers that it could be considered to constitute a continuing violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In their response, the Moldovan authorities set out the measures taken and envisaged to implement the recommendations made by the Committee in the report.
The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Moldovan authorities.