Prisoners' rights

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Cases selected for updating the Case-Law Guide.

D v. Latvia, no. 76680/17

11/01/24

Segregation, restricted access to basic prison resources and denial of human contact of a prisoner by fellow inmates due to subordinate position in informal prisoner hierarchy.
Judgment | Legal Summary


İlerde and Others v. Türkiye, nos. 35614/19 and 10 others

05/12/23

Exclusion of outdoor yards attached to cells in the calculation of prisoners' personal living space.
Judgment


Schmidt and Šmigol v. Estonia, nos. 3501/20 and 2 others

28/11/23

Consecutive enforcement of disciplinary punishments and security measures in prison resulting in protracted periods of solitary confinement.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Vukušić v. Croatia, no. 37522/16

14/11/23

Prolonged placement of a prisoner, without clothing, in a specially secured padded cell and with lights continuously on.
Judgment


Stott v. the United Kingdom, no. 26104/19

31/10/23

Difference in treatment in early release eligibility between prisoners serving an extended determinate prison sentence vis-à-vis standard determinate sentence prisoners and discretionary life sentence prisoners.
Judgment


El-Asmar v. Denmark, no. 27753/19

03/10/23

Use of pepper spray against a prisoner in an observation cell without prior warning.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Osman and Altay v. Türkiye, nos. 23782/20 and 40731/20

18/07/23

Withholding by prison authorities of issues of a periodical sent to prisoners by post without going through administration as required by law.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Horion v. Belgium, no. 37928/20

09/05/23

De facto irreducibility of a life sentence.
Judgment


S.P. and Others v. Russia, nos 36463/11 and 10 others

02/05/23

​Segregation, humiliation and abuse of prisoners by fellow inmates on account of inferior status in informal prisoner hierarchy tolerated by prison staff.
JudgmentLegal Summary 


Deltuva v. Lithuania, no. 38144/20

21/03/23

​Restriction on family visits with wife and daughter during pre-trial detention.
JudgmentLegal Summary


Machina v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 69086/14

17/01/23

Alleged infection in prison with a transmissible disease.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Yakovlyev v. Ukraine, no. 42010/18

08/12/22

Force-feeding of prisoner on hunger strike in protest against prison treatment.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Kalda v. Estonia (no. 2), no. 14581/20

06/12/22

Blanket ban on prisoners’ voting. 
Judgment | Legal Summary 


Subaşı and Others v. Türkiye, nos. 3468/20 and 18 others

06/12/22

Prisoners denied permission to receive visits from their school-age children and to make telephone calls at the weekends.  
Judgment | Legal Summary


Kupinskyy v. Ukraine, no. 5084/18

10/11/22

Conversion, upon prisoner’s transfer, of a foreign reducible life sentence into an irreducible one due to unavailability of parole for life prisoners in his home State. Applicability and merits.
Judgment Legal Summary


Constantin-Lucian Spînu v. Romania, no. 29443/20

11/10/22

Denial of permission for prisoner to attend religious services outside prison during Covid-19 pandemic.
Judgment | Legal Summary


P.C. v. Ireland, no. 26922/19

01/09/22

Convicted prisoner statutorily disqualified from old-age pension payments while incarcerated. Applicability and merits.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Chocholáč v. Slovakia, no. 81292/17

07/07/22

​General and indiscriminate ban on prisoner possession of pornographic material.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Abdullah Yalçın v. Turkey (No. 2), no. 34417/10

14/06/22

Refusal to allocate room in high-security prison to Muslim prisoner for congregational Friday prayers. Applicability and merits.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Volodya Avetisyan v. Armenia, no. 39087/15

03/05/22

Domestic remedies for complaints as to inadequate conditions of detention.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Maslák v. Slovakia (no. 2), no. 38321/17

31/03/22

Placement of detainee in high security unit and decision-making process.
Judgment


Laniauskas v. Lithuania, no. 48309/19

29/03/22

Continued detention of visually impaired convicted prisoner.  
Judgment


Nuh Uzun and Others v. Turkey, nos. 49341/18 and 13 others

29/03/22

The uploading of prisoners’ correspondence to a judicial IT server.
Judgment


Vool and Toomik v. Estonia, nos. 7613/18 and 12222/18

29/03/22

Impossibility of remand prisoners to receive conjugal visits. 
Judgment


Zayidov v. Azerbaijan (no. 2), no. 5386/10

24/03/22

Confiscation and destruction of a book manuscript written by a journalist in detention.
Judgment


Cosovan v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 13472/18

22/03/22

Detention extended despite terminal condition.
Judgment


Normantowicz v. Poland, no. 65196/16

17/03/22

Special-needs prisoner's medical care and length of the examination of his request for a licence for prison leave on health grounds.
Judgment


Fenech v. Malta, no. 19090/20

01/03/22

Conditions of detention amid Covid-19 pandemic. Solitary confinement on medical grounds.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Shirkhanyan v. Armenia, no. 54547/16

22/02/22

Detainee not allowed to have private meetings with his representatives before the Court for a prolonged period of time. Alleged technical issue concerning Rule 39: Hinder the exercise.
Judgment


Sy v. Italy, no. 11791/20

24/01/22

Detention in an ordinary prison of a person suffering from psychiatric disorders, despite the domestic court order for his transfer to an appropriate institution.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Ivan Karpenko v. Ukraine, no. 45397/13

16/12/21

Life prisoner’s ban on communication with other prisoners during out-of-cell activities.  
Judgment


Yakut Republican Trade-Union Federation v. Russia, no. 29582/09

07/12/21

Applicability: working prisoners and the right to join and form trade unions.  
Judgment | Legal Summary


Mironescu v. Romania, no. 17504/18

30/11/21

Voting rights of detainees serving prison sentence outside the electoral constituency of their place of residence.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Mehmet Çiftci v. Turkey, no. 53208/19 

16/11/21

Prison administration’s refusal to pass on newspapers posted to the detainee.
Judgment  


W.A. v. Switzerland, no. 38958/16

02/11/21

Additional preventive detention after having served final conviction in ordinary prison of a mentally ill serious offender.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Bancsók and László Magyar v. Hungary (No. 2), nos. 52374/15 and 53364/15

28/10/21

Life prisoners eligible for release after having served forty years of their term.
Judgment


Danilevich v. Russia, no. 31469/08

19/10/21

Ban on telephone calls with family for life prisoners under strict regime. 
Judgment | Legal Summary


Polgar v. Romania, no. 39412/19

20/07/21

Conditions of detention/transport and effectiveness of new domestic remedies.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Norman v. the United Kingdom, no. 41387/17

06/07/21

Prosecution of prison officer for providing information about prison to journalist in exchange for money.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Lesław Wójcik v. Poland, no. 66424/09

01/07/21

Refusal of convicted prisoner’s requests for unsupervised conjugal visits.
Judgment


Sándor Varga and Others v. Hungary, no. 39734/15

17/06/21

Whole life sentence subject to mandatory pardon procedure after forty years of imprisonment.
Judgment


Falzarano v. Italy (dec.), no. 73357/14

15/06/21

Secret surveillance of the visitation area in prison.
Decision


Ünsal and Timtik v. Turkey (dec.), no. 36331/20

08/06/21

Hunger strike in prison during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Decision


Lapshin v. Azerbaijan, no. 13527/18

20/05/21

Alleged strangulation attempt/suicide attempt in prison. Applicability and merits.
Judgment


Epure v. Romania, no. 73731/17

11/05/21

Detention in a maximum security prison of a detainee with permanent disability and history of self-aggression.
Judgment


Fenech v. Malta (dec.), no. 19090/20

23/03/21

Impact of national emergency measures introduced in respect to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Decision | Legal Summary


Feilazoo v. Malta, no. 6865/19

11/03/21

Long period of isolation, and exposure of applicant to health-risk through unnecessary placement with new arrivals in Covid-19 quarantine.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Georgia v. Russia (II) [GC], no. 38263/08

21/01/21

Treatment of prisoners of war having a special protected status under international humanitarian law.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Shlykov and Others v. Russia, nos. 78638/11 and 3 others

19/01/21

Routine and prolonged handcuffing of life prisoners.
Judgment | Legal Summary


Barbotin v. France, no. 25338/16

19/11/20

Compensatory remedy in respect of inhuman conditions of detention. Low award and detainee to pay the expert’s fees.
Judgment | Legal Summary


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