{"id":46323,"date":"2025-06-26T11:27:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T09:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/?p=46323"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T09:30:31","slug":"persons-deprived-of-liberty-held-in-conditions-that-undermine-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/persons-deprived-of-liberty-held-in-conditions-that-undermine-dignity\/","title":{"rendered":"Persons Deprived of Liberty Held in Conditions that Undermine Dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conditions in detention facilities in the majority of security departments in Montenegro do not meet basic technical and hygiene standards, thereby seriously undermining the dignity and rights of persons deprived of liberty. Monitoring conducted by Civic Alliance shows that this is a systemic issue recurring across different municipalities, despite previous warnings and recommendations.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Civic Alliance is publishing a new report on the state and conditions in Montenegrin security departments<\/strong><\/a>, covering findings from monitoring carried out during the first half of 2025. Field visits included eight security departments, and the documented deficiencies clearly point to numerous challenges in ensuring respect for the rights of persons deprived of liberty.<\/p>\n

The Civic Alliance monitoring team observed that detention facilities in most of the visited departments still fail to meet basic technical and hygiene standards. Numerous issues were identified, ranging from worn-out furniture and inadequate ventilation to poor natural and artificial lighting, unsatisfactory sanitary conditions, and a lack of staff capacity. Such conditions create an environment that is not aligned with international standards of professional and humane treatment, thereby directly or indirectly calling into question the respect for fundamental human rights and the dignity of persons deprived of liberty.<\/p>\n

Particularly concerning is the fact that most facilities are not architecturally accessible to persons with disabilities, which constitutes a form of institutional discrimination in accessing rights and basic services. In addition, inconsistent practices in record-keeping and the implementation of procedures were observed, which in some cases point to a lack of institutional oversight and legal certainty.<\/p>\n

Observations from the visited units indicate a range of systemic challenges affecting the overall system. Among them, the long-standing shortage of staff stands out as a major issue, significantly hindering the efficient performance of police duties and posing a serious obstacle in the daily work of these institutions. Although certain recruitment processes have been initiated in recent years, this challenge remains pronounced and directly affects the quality, efficiency, and safety of everyday operations.<\/p>\n

In the case of the Cetinje Security Department, it was observed that the duty service operates with only one police officer covering multiple roles simultaneously – from receiving citizens and managing video surveillance to supervising detention facilities. In situations where one or more persons are held in custody, the ability of that officer to fulfill all legal and operational obligations is seriously compromised.<\/p>\n

Similar challenges are present in other municipalities. In the Bar Security Department, due to unresolved contractual arrangements with an external cleaning agency, female police officers on duty are also required to clean detention facilities in addition to their regular responsibilities. In coastal areas, where the number of detained persons significantly increases during the tourist season, this issue becomes even more pronounced, while in the northern regions similar challenges persist under conditions of reduced staffing and increased workload.<\/p>\n

Particularly alarming conditions were observed in the detention facilities of the Bijelo Polje Security Department, which fall far below minimum standards. We note that we immediately informed the competent institutions of these findings, given that the situation required urgent action.<\/p>\n

It is important to emphasize that a large number of recommendations from previous Civic Alliance reports, as well as those issued by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) in 2022, have still not been implemented in practice. For this reason, the upcoming CPT visit to Montenegro, announced for 2025, comes at a critical moment when genuine institutional readiness to address accumulated problems must be demonstrated.<\/p>\n

We call on the competent institutions to recognize the importance of these findings and to address them responsibly, in the interest of protecting human dignity, strengthening legal certainty, and professionalizing the system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Conditions in detention facilities in the majority of security departments in Montenegro do not meet basic technical and hygiene standards, thereby seriously undermining the dignity and rights of persons deprived of liberty. Monitoring conducted by Civic Alliance shows that this is a systemic issue recurring across different municipalities, despite previous warnings and recommendations. On the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":747,"featured_media":44583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[711],"tags":[],"tip":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46324,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46323\/revisions\/46324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46323"},{"taxonomy":"tip","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamn.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tip?post=46323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}