CPT Schedules 2027 Inspection of Andorra's La Comella Prison

The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has scheduled a periodic inspection of Andorra for 2027, focusing on the treatment and living conditions of people deprived of their liberty at the La Comella Penitentiary Centre.

The announcement forms part of the CPT's 2027 programme, which includes visits to eight countries: Andorra, Albania, Croatia, Iceland, Latvia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Turkey. CPT President Alan Mitchell invited individuals and organisations to submit relevant information on detention conditions in these nations via the committee's contact page. The CPT will also conduct ad hoc visits elsewhere and may postpone some inspections to 2028 depending on circumstances.

This news coincides with the release of the CPT's 2025 annual report, published on Wednesday, which acknowledges progress in certain areas but flags troubling trends across Europe. These include a resurgence of ill-treatment in detention facilities, persistent impunity for police abuse, and prison overcrowding. The report urges governments to enhance penitentiary conditions, strengthen safeguards against police misconduct, and adopt measures like revising criminal policies, promoting alternatives to custody, and enforcing strict capacity limits in facilities.

Key concerns highlighted involve pre-trial and high-security regimes, where detainees in some countries spend over 22 hours daily in cells for extended periods, risking effective isolation. In mental health care, while good practices exist, shortages of medical staff, issues with treatment consent, and the use of isolation or mechanical/chemical restraints demand stricter oversight.

For Andorra specifically, the CPT has conducted four prior inspections, all with published reports and no outstanding disclosures. It will monitor ongoing penitentiary reforms from 2025-2026, aimed at updating legislation, boosting rehabilitation, upholding detainee rights, cutting pre-trial detention, restricting isolation, and expanding La Comella to improve capacity.

In 2025, the CPT completed 22 visits across 20 countries, inspecting 182 detention sites, including 74 prisons, 69 police stations, 17 psychiatric hospitals, 11 immigration centres, and 10 social care facilities.