“The
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the prison population in Europe”,
the Parliamentary Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
1.1 establish guidelines setting
out human rights-compliant and effective practices to enable places of
detention to respond effectively to disease outbreaks, building
on the various practices and experiences of States in different
detention facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as on
the advice and expertise of the World Health Organization, the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and other bodies with appropriate expertise;
1.2 undertake further work to consider how best to promote
alternatives to detention as a useful tool to combat prison overcrowding,
building on the recent experience of States in deploying different alternatives
to detention during the Covid-19 pandemic.
