here, especially since most detentions take place in the Linz central area. Thought is being given to closing down other detention areas, particularly the Steyr police detention centre, after the overall renovation of the Linz police detention centre is completed. In principle, the NPM welcomes the option – raised by the Federal Ministry of the Interior – for a prisoner to make sole use of a cell for multiple inmates if he expressly requests this and there is free capacity. However, this does not change the fact that the semipartitioning of the toilet areas in cells for multiple inmates does not fully meet the standards developed by the CPT (CPT Standards, p. 18, margin no. 49; Finland Report of 11 May 1999, paras. 72, 73). In cells occupied by multiple persons, the toilets should be walled in on all sides. The structural deficits of the toilet areas, which the Federal Ministry of the Interior does not intend to eliminate – primarily for budgetary reasons – can result in a (potential) infringement of the privacy rights of the affected persons, and therefore the NPM feels obliged to criticise this situation. Moreover, the assignment of a cell for multiple inmates to an individual person, which is currently a possibility, can only serve as an interim solution, which does not eliminate the cause of the problem. In addition, misunderstandings can arise in communications with persons who speak foreign languages – even if appropriate efforts are made – and there is no adequate assurance that the affected persons will be made aware of the possibility of single use of cells for multiple inmates. Infringement of the right of privacy Moreover, the occupancy of the Salzburg police detention centre and the Steyr police detention centre can quickly change and this could exacerbate the basic problem of the failure to protect the right of personal privacy. In addition, the spatial resources of the Steyr police detention centre apparently do not permit the cell in question to be occupied by only one person at the moment. Since every individual prisoner has a right to the protection of his personal privacy, the assurance of the Federal Ministry of the Interior that the aforementioned eight-person cell will “only” be occupied by six persons does not dispel the concerns of the NPM. At the Graz police detention centre, the NPM has already criticised repeatedly that toilets in cells for multiple inmates are only separated from the rest of the cell by doors that are not fully closed off. The Federal Ministry of the Interior considered completely walled in toilets; however, there has been no implementation thus far. Most recently, the Ministry stated that it had obtained offers to partition the toilet areas up to the ceilings. However, since the offers needed to be corrected, the Federal Ministry of the Interior could not name a specific date by which the construction measures would be implemented. The NPM welcomes the actions of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and will await the implementation of the structural measures. 124 Inmate cells at the Graz police detention centre

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents