Albania’s Ombudsman is carrying out an unannounced inspection on Monday and Tuesday at the Shënkoll Prison Institution as part of its mandate as the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture.
According to the Ombudsman, the preliminary findings are deeply concerning. The inspection team identified severe overcrowding in accommodation facilities and a critical shortage of medical staff compared to the healthcare needs of those being held at the institution.
The Ombudsman stated that such conditions violate human dignity and fall short of the minimum standards set by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
“The main problem is that this should be a high-security hospital, not a prison with two psychiatrists,” Ombudsman Endrit Shabani said after the inspection.
The inspection is examining accommodation conditions, healthcare services, complaint registers, and includes private interviews with detainees conducted without the presence of prison staff.
Once the inspection is completed, the Ombudsman will submit a full report with findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Justice and the General Directorate of Prisons. The institution will also compare this year’s findings with last year’s inspection to assess whether previous recommendations have been implemented.
Shabani stressed that those held at the facility are not serving criminal sentences, but are individuals subject to court-ordered medical measures because they were found not criminally responsible due to mental health conditions.
“These are not convicted prisoners. They are people placed under medical measures because they were unable to understand the consequences of their actions. Yet they are being held in degrading conditions,” he said.
He described the situation as a serious human rights concern, noting that up to 12 people are housed in a single cell, part of the building is uninhabitable, and there is an extreme lack of medical personnel.
Shabani called for urgent intervention by both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice, arguing that the facility should be transformed into a high-security psychiatric hospital rather than functioning as a prison.
He also pointed out that, unlike convicted prisoners who have benefited from repeated penal amnesties over the years, these patients are excluded from such measures, despite their mental health conditions.
“This requires immediate action. It should be the number one priority of the two ministries responsible. Human beings—especially those suffering from mental health disorders—cannot be treated in this way. It is unacceptable,” Shabani said.
