Decree of the Surveillance Judge of Alessandria 26 September 2014

The Surveillance Judge of Alessandria declared inadmissible a claim brought against the public administration by a detainee in order to obtain compensation for the damages suffered in consequence of prison overcrowding. After the pilot judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on the Torreggiani case (2013),  Article 35 ter of law No. 354/1975 on the penitential order has been modified by Article 1 of law decree No. 92/2014 (then converted into law No. 117/2014). Based on these provisions, those persons who were, or are detained in prison and who suffered damages in consequence of a treatment contrary to Article 3 of the ECHR as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights are entitled to reduced sentence, or monetary compensation. However, this particular case was inadmissible because the claimant had been moved to another prison, where he was no longer in a situation contrary to Article 3 of the ECHR. For this reason, the compensation claim should have been brought to an ordinary court, and not to the Surveillance Judge.