CELPL - Annual report - 2024

In 2024, CELPL continued its work to prevent torture and inhumane treatment by publishing two major reports: one on child and adolescent psychiatric units and another on the Uerschterhaff Penitentiary Center (CPU), focusing on admission conditions, physical and mental health, and quality of life in detention. It also produced an interim follow-up report on UNISEC, following additional visits and interviews with the young people and staff. The year was marked by several urgent recommendations, notably regarding respect for dignity during psychiatric observation measures, the need for a Socio-Judicial Psychiatry Unit for Minors (UPSJ), and the adoption of Grand Ducal regulations concerning searches and inspections in prisons. At the same time, the CELPL continued its advocacy to expand its jurisdiction to include de facto deprivations of liberty (care facilities, specialized residential homes, and facilities housing minors), an issue that remains unresolved despite a bill introduced in April 2025.
 
Throughout the year, its 24/7 on-call service led CELPL to intervene in several serious incidents: assaults at the CPL and CPG, a major incident at the CHNP, a riot at the Detention Center, and new placements of minors in adult prisons—a practice that the organization deems unacceptable and which calls for urgent reform of infrastructure and the legal framework. The CELPL also participated in numerous national and international events, including Council of Europe conferences and meetings of the German-speaking National Preventive Mechanisms. Finally, 2024 laid the groundwork for a busy 2025 in terms of publications: a report on the CPU (published in January 2025), a follow-up to the UNISEC (February 2025), a thematic dossier on the future juvenile detention center (April 2025), and an expert report on psychiatric restraint measures. The year 2024 also marks the upcoming end of Claudia Monti’s term, as she will be replaced in April 2025 by Claudine Konsbruck. It addressed torture and inhuman treatment by publishing two major reports: one on child and adolescent psychiatric units and another on the Uerschterhaff Detention Center (CPU), focusing on admission conditions, physical and mental health, and quality of life in detention. It also produced an interim follow-up report on UNISEC, following additional visits and interviews with the young people and staff.