Decision of the Court of Florence, III Civil Section, 25 March 2015

Based on the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisprudence and, most in particular, the pilot judgment of 2013 on the Torreggiani case, the Court in Palermo sentenced the Minister for Justice to pay compensation for non-pecuniary damages suffered by a person detained in the ‘Pagliarelli’ prison at Palermo. For the Court evidence had been reached in the proceeding that this person had received, during a period of 18 months, a inhuman and degrading treatment in the meaning of Article 3 of the ECHR, because of overcrowding and the lack of hot water and heating in the prison.