General Report of the CPT, 2011-2012 Reports on the periodic and ad hoc visits to Armenia in May 2010 and December 2011 and responses of the Armenian authorities (treatment of persons in police custody, situation of remand and sentenced prisoners, living conditions in psychiatric/social care establishments) 57. During the 2010 visit, the CPT’s delegation heard a significant number of allegations of police ill-treatment. In several instances, the severity of the illtreatment alleged was such that it could be considered as amounting to torture (e.g. extensive beating; infliction of electric shocks with stun batons; blows to the soles of the feet). In the report on that visit, the Committee has recommended that a firm message of “zero tolerance” of ill-treatment be delivered to all police officers. Further, training on advanced crime investigation methods should be developed and safeguards against ill-treatment (such as the rights of notification of custody, of access to a lawyer and of access to a doctor) reinforced. The Committee has also recommended that increased emphasis be placed on the structural independence of the Special Investigation Service (SIS). In its response, the Armenian Government makes particular reference to police and criminal procedure reforms, improved police training and action taken against police officers in the case of professional misconduct. 58. In the prison field, most inmates interviewed during the 2010 and 2011 visits indicated that they were being treated in a correct manner by staff. However, in the course of the 2010 visit, the delegation heard a few allegations of physical illtreatment by staff at Nubarashen Prison. The information gathered during that visit shed light on several areas of concern, in particular: prison overcrowding, impoverished programmes of activities for prisoners, allegations of corrupt practices by prison staff and public officials associated with the prison system, and reliance on an informal inmate hierarchy to maintain good order in prisons. Further, the situation of life-sentenced prisoners remained unsatisfactory and prompted the CPT to return to Armenia in 2011 in order to examine progress made in respect of this category of inmate, in particular at Kentron Prison. In the report on the 2011 visit, the CPT reached the same conclusion as in the report on its 2010 visit, namely that conditions under which life-sentenced prisoners are accommodated at Kentron Prison could be considered as amounting to inhuman treatment. Both reports contain a series of specific recommendations aimed at remedying the problems found in the prisons visited. In response, the Armenian authorities refer to measures being taken to combat prison overcrowding, including by placing increased emphasis on alternatives to imprisonment and by making early release mechanisms more efficient. Further, the building of new prisons, within the framework of a “prison infrastructure reform programme”, is expected to decrease overcrowding, improve conditions of detention for various categories of inmate and reduce the risks of inter-prisoner intimidation. The authorities also indicate that the legal provisions on the 24