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ROME (AP) \u2014 The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee on Friday released a report criticizing Italy\u2019s treatment of migrants<\/a> in local detention centers, citing cases of physical ill-treatment, excessive force and the use of psychotropic drugs on detainees.<\/p>\n The report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture<\/a> (CPT) follows an April visit to four migrant detention and repatriation centers in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome.<\/p>\n Under Italian law, these centers are aimed at hosting migrants who try to enter the country without a visa, are not entitled to apply for asylum and are deemed \u201csocially dangerous\u201d by law enforcement.<\/p>\n See for yourself \u2014 The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The report details instances of \u201cinterventions” in the detention facilities, known as CPRs, and identifies shortcomings including \u201cthe absence of any rigorous and independent monitoring of such interventions and the lack of an accurate recording of injuries” sustained by detainees.<\/p>\n Italy has in the past defended the role of these centers as a deterrent to surging illegal migration, noting that some \u201cprison elements\u201d are necessary to prevent escapes from these facilities.<\/p>\n The far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni has also tried to export the Italian model abroad, sealing a contentious agreement with Albania<\/a> to build and run two migrant holding centers in the eastern country.<\/p>\n The deal, however, has faced legal hurdles and has been suspended by Italian magistrates in its early stages.<\/a><\/p>\n In its report Friday, the CPT was also critical of the \u201cwidespread practice” of administering unprescribed psychotropic drugs to detainees in Potenza, one of the four centers visited.<\/p>\n The report also highlights \u201cthe prolonged handcuffing of persons apprehended on the territory during their transfer to a (holding facility).\u201d<\/p>\n In its report, the anti-torture watchdog recommended Italy to remove the \u201ccarceral elements\u201d from the centers and to ensure their proper maintenance, notably the sanitary facilities.<\/p>\n It also showed the critical lack of activities offered to migrants held in the centers, with minimal efforts to offer them \u201ca few activities of a recreational nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The report concludes that the committee’s findings, \u201cnotably in relation to the very poor material conditions, the absence of a regime of activities, the disproportionate security approach, the variable quality of health care provision and the lack of transparency of the management of CPRs by private contractors,\u201d call into question the application of such a model by Italy in an extra-territorial setting, such as in Albania.<\/p>\nTrusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox<\/h4>\n