Prison Conditions and Misconduct in Portugal

By Noah Thelen

Despite Portugal having a remarkably low prison population — currently 118 per 100,000 individuals — the country is still plagued with police misconduct and issues over the treatment of prisoners.[1] All of Europe is under strict review of policies from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CPT”).[2] The CPT was founded November 1989 following Article 1 of the European Torture Convention.[3] The role of the CPT is to “examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of such persons from torture and from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[4]

Even with safeguards in place, many Portuguese prisons are not in compliant with the CPT requirements, which numerous humanitarian activists have called to attention.[5] Even with the prison population per 100,000 people at nearly one sixth of the United States prison population, Portugal still has issues with overcrowding in prisons.[6] Despite the CPT’s existence, it does not provide enough safeguards to ensure the proper humane treatment of prisoners.[7] In fact, according to the Council of Europe’s publications, if a state fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in light of the CPT’s recommendations, the CPT is permitted to make a public statement on the prison conditions.[8] A potentially bigger flaw with this system, however, is the lack of an outlined timeframe or what constitutes as sufficient action to improve the situation in prisons.[9]

The most notable, non-compliant prison is the Lisbon Central prison.[10] In Lisbon Central, the cells are nine square meters, designed for single occupancy.[11] In publications from the CPT, however, many of these cells are used for two or three prisoners.[12] Additionally, due to the age of the prison’s infrastructure, many of the cells and buildings are rapidly in disrepair.[13] Many of these buildings have crumbling paint, broken windows with exposed glass, and no sufficient way to regulate the internal temperature for the inmates.[14] Additionally, the CPT has published a report about Lisbon Central in which they called the basement areas of B, C, D, and E wings “akin to inhuman and degrading treatment.”[15] In these specific areas, prison officials have taken matters into their own hands to regulate temperature in the summer by breaking windows.[16] These makeshift windows may allow better flow in the summer, but published reports indicate that the lack of sustainable infrastructure has lead prison officials to not replace the glass during the winter time, which allows temperatures to reach as low as thirteen degrees Celsius.[17] Lastly, most cleaning duties are placed on the prisoners in Portugal, and prisoners usually have to purchase their own cleaning supplies and do a majority of the maintenance on their own accord.[18]

In Lisbon Central (above), the cells are nine square meters, designed for single occupancy. In publications from the CPT, however, many of these cells are used for two or three prisoners. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Another issue with the Portuguese prison system is there is no practical scheme of free legal aid.[19] Like the lack of infrastructure, the lack of any free legal aid means prisoners can be similarly mistreated, and if they cannot afford legal representation, then prisoners are forced to litigate on their own.[20] A further troubling concern surrounds prisoner safety measures, which are often put in the background or ignored all together. For example, the statute codified by the CPT requires inmates to have an assessment of their risk of self-harm made within 72 hours of intake, and further procedures are left up to the individual institution.[21] Furthermore, the CPT has noticed gross neglect for prisoner safety when prisoners were quoted in a 2012 report explaining that “the requirements of the statute are ignored.”[22]  

Portugal and the mistreatment of prisoners has come to the forefront in Europe in the recent years. The CPT published a subsequent report from their visits to Lisbon Central from December 3 to December 12, 2019.[23] During the course of the visit, the CPT received a number of allegations of correctional officers wrongly treating prisoners that ranges from punches to physical beatings with batons.[24] Recently, the CPT has been urging Portugal to vigorously promote a police culture where violence is considered unprofessional.[25] Additionally, the CPT has been highly critical of Portugal and how the country conducts internal investigations into police misconduct — often not holding the offenders responsible for their actions.[26]

The December 2019 published report is the first of its kind. It is over fifty pages, and the CPT requested that the Minister of the Interior, Heads of the National Republican Guard, and other top political officials conduct close oversight into prison conditions to ensure that they remain compliant.[27] In total, there were close to 120 paragraphs worth of recommendations in the CPT report suggesting that Portuguese officials fix their gross misconduct to prevent further European Union sanctions.[28] Ultimately, Portugal’s poor oversight with prison conditions and overcrowding serves as a lesson for other countries, and help those countries understand what changes to implement to avoid inhumane treatment and human rights violations.

[1] Portugal, World Prison Brief, https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/portugal (last visited Aug. 2022).

[2] Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee, Council of Europe,

https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt.

[3] The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law: European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), Médecins Sans Frontières, https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/european-committee-for-the-prevention-of-torture-cpt/ (last visited Sept. 2022).

[4] Id.

[5] António Pedro Dores et al., Prison Conditions in Portugal, European Prison Observatory (Sept. 2013), 8, 16, http://www.prisonobservatory.org/upload/PrisonconditioninPortugal.pdf.

[6] Id. at 18.

[7] Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee, supra note 2.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Dores et al., supra note 5, at 18.

[11] Id.

[12] Id. at 19.

[13] Rómulo Mateus, Challenges and Priorities for the Portuguese Prison System . . . And the Ongoing Transformation Despite COVID-19, Just. Trends (June 25, 2021), https://justice-trends.press/challenges-and-priorities-for-the-portuguese-prison-system-and-the-ongoing-transformation-despite-covid-19/.

[14] Dores et al., supra note 5, at 19.

[15] Id.

[16] Id. at 21.

[17] Id.

[18] Legal Aid: Portugal, European Union: European Jud. Network, https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_legal_aid-37129-PT-en.do?clang=en (last updated July 4, 2022).

[19] Dores et al., supra note 5, at 22.

[20] Legal Aid, Portugal, supra note 18.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Report to the Portuguese Government on the Visit to Portugal Carried Out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), European Comm. for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Nov. 13, 2020), https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-urges-portugal-to-tackle-police-ill-treatment-and-police-impunity.

[24] Id. at 31.

[25] Id. at 37.

[26] Id.

[27] Id. at 44.

[28] Id.