Inhumane detention conditions remain widespread in Hungarian prisons

The HHC has been involved from the outset in the monitoring of the implementation of  the judgments in the landmark cases of Varga and Others and István Gábor Kovács v. Hungary (applications nos. 14097/12, 15707/10), as well as in monitoring the development of the systemic problems they highlighted.

Against this background, the HHC’s latest submission to the Committee of Ministers points out that the Hungarian government continues to fail to address the widespread deficiencies relating to the poor conditions of detention, the structural problem of overcrowding in Hungarian prisons, the lack of effective preventive and compensatory remedies in this regard, as well as other detention-related violations. 

Building on the findings of its previous submissions, the HHC stresses that a lasting solution to the structural problems discussed in this group of cases has yet to be implemented. 

The HHC’s submission provides evidence of the following remaining deficiencies in the implementation of the judgments:

• The continued expansion of the prison estate has not curbed the growth of the prison population in the long term. On 31 August 2024, the prison system operated with a total of 32 penitentiary institutions and and a density of 104%, with 17 prisons operating at over 100% capacity, including three at over 110% and two over 120%;
• There is still no coherent and overarching penal policy addressing the root causes of prison population inflation. As a result, it is impossible to ensure that imprisonment remains a measure of last resort, which is the only policy that would provide a long-term solution to the problem of prison overcrowding and inhumane conditions of detention in Hungary; 
• The lack of efforts to increase the use of alternatives to detention, including the better implementation of existing non-custodial sanctions and measures, leads to the overuse of imprisonment in all stages of the criminal procedure;
• The government has made no tangible progress in addressing the numerous shortcomings of the compensatory and preventive remedy schemes aimed at redressing substandard prison conditions;
• Despite some improvements, excessive restrictions on visiting rights persist, as do legislative and practical shortcomings in the treatment of detainees with disabilities and the application of special security regimes.

For the above reasons, the HHC respectfully recommended the Committee of Ministers to continue to examine the execution of the respective judgments under the enhanced procedure and to consider issuing an interim resolution on the group of cases.

The full text of the HHC’s Rule 9(2) communication is available here.