A) Dates of the individual visits and composition of the National Preventive Mechanism:

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1 Annual Report 2014 of the Liechtenstein National Preventive Mechanism according to Art. 17 ff. Of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS A) Dates of the individual visits and composition of the National Preventive Mechanism: 1. In accordance with Art. 17 ff. of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Liechtenstein Law Gazette LGBl No. 260), the National Preventive Mechanism (hereinafter: NPM) paid several visits to places of detention in the Principality of Liechtenstein in The individual visits took place largely without prior notice on the following dates: - 10 March 2014, from about 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m June 2014, from about 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from about 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m September 2014, from about 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m November 2014, from about 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. 2. These visits were carried out in each case by the following members of the NPM, all being present, with the exception of the visit on 24 November 2014, when Edmund Pilgram was unable to attend: Mag. iur. Franziska Monauni, LL.M., Chairperson of the Liechtenstein Corrections Commission and of the Liechtenstein NPM Isolde Kieber, Deputy Chairperson of the Liechtenstein Corrections Commission and of the Liechtenstein NPM

2 2 Dr. Gerhard Mislik, Member of the Liechtenstein Corrections Commission and of the Liechtenstein NPM Dr. med. Gernot Singer, Member of the Liechtenstein Corrections Commission and of the Liechtenstein NPM Edmund Pilgram, Member of the Liechtenstein Corrections Commission and of the Liechtenstein NPM The visits were preceded and followed by meetings of the NPM (the Corrections Commission), during which the approach was defined and the results were discussed. B) Visits to the institutions: 3. In 2014, the NPM visited the following places of deprivation of liberty: Vaduz National Prison Schlossgarten Retirement and Nursing Home, Balzers C) Other points: 4. Cooperation with the Liechtenstein authorities during the visits of the NPM was again very good this year. The members of the NPM were granted immediate access to all the facilities they wished to visit. It was also possible for them to hold confidential discussions with all the persons with whom they wished to talk. Both the public officials and the responsible contact persons of the facilities visited were cooperative and most helpful. On 15 September 2014 the annual exchange between the members of the NPM and the officials of the Office of Justice and the Ministry for Home Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs took place. This meeting was attended by Senior Advisors Dr. Erik Purgstaller and Dr. Patricia Wildhaber, lic. iur. Claudia Gerner, as well as Police Chief of Staff lic. iur. Uwe Langenbahn, who formally also serves as Director of the National Prison. On the side of the NPM, all members were present. On

3 3 the occasion of this meeting, the recommendations already made in writing by the NPM in the previous annual reports and by the Corrections Commission in the ongoing quarterly reports were discussed, and the Government made comments on those recommendations. Details on the individual points will be mentioned below. II. FACTS IDENTIFIED DURING THE VISITS AND RECOMMENDATIONS MADE A) Vaduz National Prison: Of the visits mentioned at the beginning, the NPM paid four unannounced visits to the Vaduz National Prison in The number of detainees during the visits varied between 7 and 14 and included both convicted prisoners and prisoners on remand as well as detainees awaiting deportation. They were primarily male, although some of them were female. In every case, prison staff readily provided the NPM with the information desired and granted inspection of all the corrections records requested. Immediate access was likewise granted to all facilities that the members of the NPM wished to visit. It was also possible for the NPM to carry out confidential discussions with prison staff and the management of the prison as well as with prisoners on remand, convicted prisoners, and detainees awaiting deportation. During these visits, the NPM was able to gain a good overview of the detention conditions. As in previous years, these continue to be good. No complaints whatsoever of mistreatment or other inhuman treatment were made by detainees in relation to imprisonment. On the contrary, the NPM satisfied itself once again of the predominantly good atmosphere within the prison. Despite the basically positive overall impression gained by the NPM/Corrections Commission during its visits, there continue to be individual

4 4 areas in the field of corrections that are in need of reform. In some cases, these concern known facts and recommendations already noted in previous annual reports that shall be examined below: 1) Spatial conditions: Once again, nothing has changed about the shortage of space in the Vaduz National Prison over the past year, which continues to have a negative impact on the following points: a) Work and leisure activities: Despite the sustained efforts of the management to procure work and leisure opportunities and the temporary acquisition of new orders, the irregular and therefore unsatisfactory work situation in the National Prison has a negative impact on the resocialization of prisoners. The activity level of a detainee unfortunately continues to be only 30% on average. The clarifications initiated by the management at the beginning of 2014 on establishing a work container on the premises of the National Prison have unfortunately not yet been concluded. During the annual exchange, the Government reported that the evaluation of several approaches is still underway. According to the Government, the NPM will be informed on the result of the evaluation in due time, presumably before the end of In this context, the Government also informed the NPM that the enforcement option of the electronic ankle monitor cannot be implemented in Liechtenstein on grounds of cost. This conclusion was the outcome of extensive legal and organizational consultations with the competent Austrian authorities. The operating costs and personnel resources required would be entirely disproportionate to the few cases that might occur each year. In view of the key function of work and leisure activities for the resocialization of convicted prisoners, the NPM recommends to

5 5 the Government once again to continue all previous efforts with perseverance to ensure provision of work as well as leisure and continuing education opportunities in the National Prison. b) Uniform rules of allocating competence: Already in its previous annual reports, the NPM expressed its regret concerning the position of the Government that, due to the shortage of resources, it continues to have no intention to abolish the currently mixed competences of the Ministry for Justice and the Ministry for Home Affairs in the field of corrections. The NPM reiterates this regret in the present Annual Report. The NPM does not share the view of the Government, which was conveyed in this year s annual exchange, that there is no need for action on this point anyway, given that since March 2013, the Ministry for Home Affairs and the Justice Department have been assigned to one and the same Ministry, namely the Ministry for Home Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs. The overlaps in terms of powers and organization of the police authorities with the concerns of corrections continue to exist. Rule 71 of the European Prison Rules of the Council of Europe also continues to apply, according to which corrections facilities must be separate from police and investigation authorities. The NPM therefore reiterates its recommendation to the Government that in future, with regard to legal competence, corrections should be made the exclusive competence of the Ministry for Justice or the Office of Justice to preclude abuses and to create uniform rules allocating competence that comply with European corrections standards. c) Female inmates The example of a pregnant detainee on remand once again showed in 2014 that the spatial conditions in the National Prison are, in individual cases, not suitable to ensure detention that is in conformity

6 6 with the Corrections Act and the European Prison Rules. For instance, as a matter of course, it is not possible for female detainees in the National Prison to interact with each other, given that it is virtually never the case that two women are in pre-trial detention or criminal detention at the same time. In practice, this increasingly leads to solitary confinement that is not foreseen and can be very burdensome for the female detainees. In light of this situation, the NPM recommends dealing with these individual cases, where possible, by transferring the detainee to the Feldkirch prison, in order to ensure that especially female prisoners on remand are subject to conditions of detention in conformity with the law. d) Transfer of inmates abroad: Already in its Annual Report 2013, the NPM pointed out that in the course of resocialization of convicted prisoners in accordance with European Prison Rule No. 24 of Recommendation Rec(2006)2 of the Committee of Ministers of 11 January 2006, regular contact with family members is also immensely important. This contact is of course made more difficult by transferring convicted prisoners several hundred kilometres away from their residences and families. During the annual exchange, the Government gratifyingly assured the NPM that considerations of cost played no role in transfers to either Austrian prisons or the Swiss Saxerriet Prison. Transfers primarily depended on the well-being of the detainees. Moreover, the Government stated that transfers to the Saxerriet Prison were evaluated on the basis of the transfer criteria defined in writing by the Government. In view of the special importance of contact with family members for the resocialization of convicted prisoners, the NPM continues to recommend to the Government to strive for an approach that is tailored to the circumstances of the individual case and that takes account of the European Prison

7 7 Rules of the Council of Europe when transfers abroad become necessary. 2) Miscellaneous: a) Website of the National Prison: During the annual exchange, the NPM was pleased to hear that the Ministry for Home Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs will assist the National Prison in developing its own website. The NPM hopes that the implementation will occur soon in 2015, given that from the perspective of the NPM, a prison website is entirely in keeping with the times and also necessary in terms of information provision. b) School visits to the National Prison: The NPM also welcomes the fact that, in a change to previous practice, only school classes from the 9th school year and above will henceforth be permitted to visit the National Prison, and then only in a limited manner. This primarily has the effect of causing fewer disturbances for the daily schedule in the National Prison and also creates an environment that is pedagogically appropriate to the age group. c) Corrections staff: Finally, it is gratifying to note that an additional corrections staff member has been selected in the meantime to complete paramedic training. The staff member will begin the training this year. B) Schlossgarten Retirement and Nursing Home, Balzers: As already mentioned at the beginning, the NPM paid an announced visit to the Schlossgarten Retirement and Nursing Home in Balzers on 23 June This visit lasted from about 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and included an in-depth discussion with home director Walter Nobel and nurse Nora Bühler, who provided detailed information to the NPM on the functioning of the retirement

8 8 home and gave the members of the NPM a tour of the home. The NPM encountered excellent conditions, as anyone can observe by visiting the home s website, The retirement and nursing home strongly supports the right of the residents to self-determination; to the extent their health permits, residents can move freely within and outside the home. Care and nursing are tailored to the needs of the individual resident. Relatives are granted open visiting hours. To do justice to the special needs of residents with dementia, a day centre is offered, which is run by staff with special training. With the help of a GPS system, the persons concerned are able to move freely. All residents have a spacious individual room with large windows and a balcony. The sanitary installations in the rooms as well as the common bathrooms meet an exceptionally high standard of hygiene. Care and nursing for the residents is ensured in an exemplary way and is organized according to an individualized approach. Generous common rooms are also at the residents disposal, as well as a large dining room in which events involving the residents are regularly offered. The NPM is pleased to report to the Government that the conditions observed in the Schlossgarten Retirement and Nursing Home in Balzers are excellent. III. REVIEW AND OUTLOOK With the conclusion of the year 2014, the third year of the four-year mandate period of the NPM has come to an end. Looking back, it can again be said this year that the conditions for persons deprived of liberty in Liechtenstein are by and large very good. We continue to hope that the remaining recommendations to the Government will be taken up in future and brought to a resolution.

9 Schaan, 26 January