(ANSA) - STRASBOURG - The CPT, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, strongly criticises the conditions of detention and treatment of inmates at Idrizovo Prison, which holds some 60 % of the country's prisoners. It also qualifies "as a relic of the repressive past" the regime offered to inmates on remand at Skopje Prison. The evaluation is based on the visit the CPT undertook last December. The CPT recalls "that since 2006 it has repeatedly highlighted certain fundamental structural issues" of the prison system. The Council of Europe body also denounces the fact that corruption "has spread its tentacles into the system" and that "at Idrizovo Prison, every aspect of imprisonment is up for sale - from obtaining a place in a decent cell to drugs".

The report goes on to emphasise that the continued problems of ill-treatment, inter-prisoner violence, and corruption "are intrinsically linked to the insufficient number of prison staff and the lack of training and support provided to them". The CPT concludes stating that the "time has come for the rule of law and protection of human rights to be applied fully in the Macedonian prison system". (ANSA).