Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: European Court of human rights

Date: 03/27/2008

Subject: The applicant, Vincenzo Guidi, is an Italian national who was born in 1966. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and other crimes linked to the activities of a mafia-type organisation, and is currently serving his sentence in the Ascoli Piceno prison in Italy. He complained in particular of the special prison regime to which he was subjected, which entailed, among other things, restrictions on visits by family members, and surveillance of his correspondence. He also complained that he was subjected to repeated body searches and that his cell was constantly monitored by closed-circuit cameras. He relied on Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life). The Court considered that the limitations and restrictions resulting from the application of the special regime had not been overly harsh, and unanimously held that there had been no violation of Article 3. It also pointed out that it had already found that the relevant domestic legal provision did not provide sufficient legal basis for verifying the applicant’s correspondence, in violation of Article 8. On the matter of non-pecuniary damage, the Court held that the finding of a violation was in itself sufficient just satisfaction

Parties: Guidi c/ Italia

Classification: Dignity - Art. 4 Inhuman treatments - Degrading treatments - Freedoms - Art. 7 Privacy - Communications