(ANSA) - STRASBOURG - ''The living conditions of mentally ill prisoners in Albania can be easily considered as inhuman and degrading'', wrote the CPT, the Council of Europe anti-torture Committee, in its latest report on the country, which highlights an improvement in the conditions of prison cells in police stations and a decrease in the number of reports of ill-treatment suffered by the arrested. Nevertheless, ''the CPT is seriously worried about the living conditions of psychiatric patients, that despite the specific recommendations made since 2000 have worsened since the last visit paid in 2014'', the statement reports.

Given the seriousness of the situation, the CPT asked the authorities for a detailed plan for rapid progress in building new structures. Meanwhile, the same authorities have indicated that, pending the new facilities, all patients will be transferred to provisional places in 2018. In the report the Cpt underlined instead the improvements both as regards the conditions in prison cells of most police stations, and the number of reports of ill-treatment suffered by those who were arrested. ''As a whole, the information gathered during the visit (February 2017) reports a positive trend compared to the situation found in 2014'', said the CPT that, however, received numerous complaints of ill-treatment inflicted by individual policemen who are being investigated by the local authorities, after an urgent request from Strasbourg. (ANSA).