6 CPT: 17TH GENERAL REPORT ACTIVITIES DURING THE PERIOD 1 AUGUST 2006 TO 31 JULY 2007 Visits 1. The CPT organised seventeen visits totalling 157 days during the twelve-month period covered by this General Report. Of those visits, ten (totalling 111 days) formed part of the CPT’s annual programme of periodic visits and seven (46 days) were ad hoc visits which the Committee considered were required by the circumstances. This represents a small decrease in visit days as compared to the previous year, in large part due to staff changes within the CPT's Secretariat during the second half of 2006. The CPT is now back on course for a visit programme totalling in the region of 170 days during the full year 2007. 2. Periodic visits were organised to Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Georgia, Ireland, Liechtenstein and the Netherlands (including Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles). As always, the programme of each periodic visit embraced various types of establishment (police stations, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, etc.). The treatment of persons serving very long or even life sentences was an area of focus for a number of visits (such as those to Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Estonia). Further, particular attention was given during certain visits to social welfare establishments (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia and Liechtenstein) and to special establishments for juveniles (Croatia, France, Georgia and the Netherlands). The issue of legal safeguards surrounding involuntary placement in psychiatric establishments was also examined in detail in some countries (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Georgia). 3. Prison overcrowding continues to have a very negative effect on the quality of conditions of detention in several of the countries visited. Global strategies to overcome this problem must be devised and implemented as a matter of priority, drawing inspiration from the recommendations adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on this subject. The CPT was also very concerned in many of the countries visited by the level of inter-prisoner violence, and it has called upon the authorities concerned to draw up comprehensive plans to combat this phenomenon. The Committee wishes to recall that the duty of care which is owed by custodial staff to those in their charge includes the responsibility to protect them from other inmates who might wish to cause them harm. Moreover, further efforts are required in many countries to improve activities for prisoners, in particular those on remand (i.e. awaiting trial). The notion that remand prisoners have to be subject to a regime of “isolation” must be abandoned throughout Europe. In the CPT’s view, the starting point for considering regimes for such prisoners must be the presumption of innocence and the principle that they should be subject to no more restrictions than are strictly necessary to secure their safe confinement and the interests of justice. On a more positive note, the CPT found that vigorous action was being taken to combat corruption within the prison system in certain countries visited where this had been a long-standing problem. 4. The seven ad hoc visits carried out by the CPT during the period covered by this General Report were to Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, the Russian Federation (North Caucasus), Spain, and Turkey (two visits). 5. The main objectives of the ad hoc visit to Greece in March 2007 were to examine the steps taken to implement recommendations made by the CPT after its periodic visit in 2005, and to hold high-level talks with the Greek authorities with a view to enhancing their cooperation with the Committee. Particular attention was paid to safeguards against ill-treatment of persons detained by law enforcement officials and to conditions of detention in police stations and holding facilities for aliens. The CPT’s delegation also returned to Korydallos Men’s Prison, in order to examine conditions in the segregation units and assess developments in relation to the establishment’s health-care service.