The European Court of Human Rights Rules Against Systemic Psychiatric Neglect in Italian Prisons
- Human Rights Research Center
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Author: Ana MC Budeanu
June 10, 2026
HRRC applauds the efforts of the European Court of Human Rights to protect fundamental rights of people with psychiatric disorders.
![Could Italy Stop the Systemic Psychiatric Neglect in Its Prisons? [Image credit: Unsplash]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f05ed1_abc3f1205f9640b1bf3225a2b27c6ea4~mv2.avif/v1/fill/w_980,h_551,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/f05ed1_abc3f1205f9640b1bf3225a2b27c6ea4~mv2.avif)
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled against systemic psychiatric neglect in Italian prisons on June 4 in the cases Albertani vs. Italy and Andrea Ciotta vs. Italy.
In the first case, Albertani vs. Italy, the applicant is an Italian national born in 1983 who suffers from psychiatric disorders. In 2011, she was sentenced to a 20 years’ imprisonment for several offences, including the murder of her sister and the attempted murder of her mother. After being held for three years in a psychiatric facility, she was moved to prison, against judicial and medical advice, because the initial psychiatric hospitals were closed and the new psychiatric centres could not receive a patient-prisoner with her offences.
The ECtHR has found Italy guilty of violating art. 3, art 5 and art. 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This meant Italy violated the ECHR articles on prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment which means prohibition of infliction of severe physical and mental suffering or of humiliating treatments, the right to liberty and security meaning protection from unlawful arrest or detention, and the right to an effective remedy meaning the possibility to request the remediation or to contest a wrongful decision.
In the second case, Andrea Ciotta vs. Italy, the applicant is an Italian national born in 1984, suffering from psychiatric disorders. In 2020, he was temporarily placed in pre-trial detention in a prison under the charges of harassing his former partner. He remained there, despite a psychiatric diagnosis, almost a year.
The ECtHR found Italy guilty of violating art. 3, art. 5, art. 6 and art. 34 of ECHR, meaning that violations regarded prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to liberty and security, the right to a fair trial, and the right of individual application.
Unfortunately, Italy is widely known as having systemic psychiatric neglect cases in their prisons, where prisoners’ psychiatric conditions are ignored and even aggravated while they aren’t allowed access to proper treatment.
Glossary
Aggravated - designating an especially grave form of a specified offense.
Applicant - a person who applies for or requests something; a candidate.
Arrest - to deprive (a person) of liberty by taking him or her into custody, esp under lawful authority.
Contest - to try to disprove; call in question.
Detention - the deprivation of liberty of non-citizens based on their immigration status, which can be administrative or criminal.
European Convention on Human Rights - a charter that states that European citizens should enjoy human rights.
European Court of Human Rights -a judicial body charged with implementation of the European Convention On Human Rights.
Facility - are buildings, pieces of equipment, or services that are provided for a particular purpose.
Harrassment - continuative harassing, threatening or persecuting behaviour which: (1) causes a state of anxiety and fear in the victim(s), or; (2) ingenerates within the victim(s) a motivated fear for his/her own safety or for the safety of relatives, kin, or others associated with the victim him/herself by an affective relationship, or; (3) forces the victim(s) to change his/her living habits.
Humiliating Treatments - treatment is considered to be “degrading”(humiliating) when it humiliates or debases an individual, showing a lack of respect for, or diminishing, his or her human dignity, or arouses feelings of fear, anguish or inferiority capable of breaking an individual’s moral and physical resistance. It may suffice that the victim is humiliated in his or her own eyes, even if not in the eyes of others.
Imprisonment - the state of being imprisoned.
Infliction - something inflicted, as punishment or suffering.
Neglect - (1) the ongoing failure to meet an individual's basic and essential needs, either deliberately, or by failing to understand these. It includes ignoring a person’s needs, or withholding essentials to meet needs, such as medication, food, water, shelter and warmth.
Neglect - (2) to fail to care for or attend to sufficiently or properly; slight.
Offence - a crime that breaks a particular law and requires a particular punishment.
Psychiatry - the branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of mental illness.
Psychiatric Disorders - any of various disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or autism spectrum disorder, characterized by a distressing or disabling impairment of an individual's cognitive, emotional, or social functioning.
Regard - to look upon or consider in a specified way.
Remediation - the action of remedying something, especially the reversal or stopping of damage.
Right of Individual Application - the right of any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation of their rights under the Convention (ECHR) or its Protocols to introduce an application before the Court.
Right to Remedy -the right of victims of human rights violations to have access to justice and reparation.
Ruling - an official decision made by a judge or court.
Systemic - of or affecting a system, specifically an entire system.
Trial - a judicial examination and determination of facts and legal issues arising between parties to a civil or criminal action.
Unlawful - illegal.
Wrongful Decision - refers to what (a decision that) is not right or legal.
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