The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) is an independent body that visits prisons to monitor the treatment of prisoners, complementing the work of the European Court of Human Rights in preventing torture and ill-treatment. In 2025, the CPT published an in-depth report on Informal Prison Hierarchies (https://rm.coe.int/1680b57a6a). The document reports that such hierarchies, albeit with varying degrees of pervasiveness, are present in the prison systems of nine signatory states to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987), eight of which are member states of the Council of Europe. All nine countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine) were part of the Soviet Union and continue to be characterized by “prison collectivism,” which has three main elements: a system of penal governance based on mutual peer surveillance; the transfer of authority and governance to the prisoners themselves; and community life closely linked to the accommodation of prisoners in collective dormitories.

The resulting informal system of self-governance among inmates has created an informal hierarchy among prisoners, dividing them into categories, or castes—generally three—that coexist in strict accordance with the informal code of prisoners.  Membership in a particular caste is determined by a number of factors, including the crime committed, links to organized crime (if any), the person's financial situation, previous incarcerations, debts and conflicts in prison or outside, sexual orientation and pre-prison experiences, or even the accidental violation of one of the many unwritten rules of the informal prisoner hierarchy.

During their detention, prisoners from the lower caste are gradually deprived of their dignity, forced to sleep in the worst beds, use separate tableware, and separate toilets, laundry facilities, and gyms. In addition, the CPT has received numerous complaints of exploitation of inmates belonging to the lowest caste, who usually clean the dormitories or cells of inmates of the higher caste, as well as their toilets; according to the CPT, this would constitute a form of modern slavery (in the form of forced labor).

Two recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights – S.P. and others v. Russia (no. 36463/11 of August 2, 2023) and D. v. Latvia (no. 76680/17 of January 11, 2024) – are important  as they clarify the threshold of severity required for the application of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the first judgment, in paragraph 96, the Court noted that the stigmatization and physical and social segregation of prisoners belonging to the lowest caste,  “coupled with their assignment to menial labour and denial of basic needs such as bedding, hygiene and medical care, enforced by threats of violence and also occasional physical and sexual violence, had led them to endure mental anxiety and physical suffering that must have exceeded the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention […], even if not all applicants had been subjected to physical or sexual violence. That situation, which the applicants endured for years on account of their placement in the group of ‘outcast’ prisoners, had amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.”

 This situation, which the applicants endured for years because of their classification as “pariah” prisoners, constituted inhuman and degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.

In the similar case of D. v. Latvia, the Court further clarified that the absence of direct involvement by the State in acts of ill-treatment sufficiently serious to trigger Article 3 does not exempt it from its obligations, since the national authorities must take measures to ensure that no one is subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, including that perpetrated by private individuals. In other words, States are required not only to refrain from such treatment, but also to prevent it being inflicted by other prisoners.

The document drafted by the CPT denounces the seriousness of the violations and offers clear guidelines for overcoming the lack of pluralism within the prisons of the nine countries concerned. It should be noted, however, that the pressure exerted by the Council of Europe through visits, reports, and rulings by the ECHR seems to be promoting changes that are still unsatisfactory. This is the case with the SAFE Roadmap to Europeanization of Moldovan prisons, a program adopted by Measure 244 of 2024 by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, also following continuous calls from the CPT.

 On paper, the plan provides for the recognition of each individual's specific characteristics and their protection through an assessment process upon entry into prison and the subsequent protection of vulnerable groups.  In a recent CPT report dated December 4, 2025, the CPT highlights only formal adherence to international standards and strongly urges the administration and staff to ensure the safety of people who are exposed to particular risks of abuse (including LGBTQI+ people, people with mental health issues or substance abuse problems) or those who do not want to be involved in informal hierarchies among prisoners. For more details on the slow and complex process of promoting equality and recognizing differences among prisoners in this paradigmatic case, please refer to the dedicated report (https://rm.coe.int/4880299ae1).

 

(Focus by Oriana Binik)

 

Selected bibliography:

 

N. Burciu, Europeanisation of post‐soviet prisons: A comparative case study of prison policy transfer from Norway to Latvia and Lithuania, in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 62(1)/2023, 102-118.

 

Council of Europe CPT,  Visit Report Moldova - CPT/Inf (2025)38.

 

Council of Europe CPT, Informal Prisoner Hierarchy – CPT/Inf(2025)12.

 

G. Slade, O. Zeveleva, The pains of prison reform: Informal prisoner governance and penal subjectivities in Estonia and Lithuania, in Punishment & Society, 27(1)/2025, 49-67.

 

R. Vaičiūnienė, A. Tereškinas, A., Transformations in prison subculture and adjustment to imprisonment in Post-Soviet Lithuanian penitentiary institutions, in East European Politics and Societies, 31(3)/2017, 659-679.

 

Cited case law:

 

ECHR, D. v. Latvia, no. 76680/17, 11 January 2024.

 

ECHR, S.P. and others v. Russia, no. 36463/11, 2 August 2023.