Switzerland: a lack of humanity

My name is Iscu V. and I am 43 years old. I’m originally from Romania but have been incarcerated in Switzerland since 5 September 2015. I was sentenced to four years in prison on 3 May 2017, as well as lifelong incarceration, following Article 64.1 bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. This measure allows the Swiss authorities to detain me for an indefinite period of time. I have been incarcerated for over seven years without knowing when my sentence will end. I feel a deep sense of injustice every second that I am in prison. The thought that I could spend the rest of my life here is constant mental torture. This punishment makes you lose all hope.

After almost eight months of pretrial detention, I was transferred to a prison in the canton of Neuchâtel. I was placed in a cell with another prisoner in the wing for new arrivals. He never left our cell, not even to work, play sports, or go for a walk. He would use a chair or other metal objects to make noise from ten o’clock at night until seven in the morning every day. He would bang on the floor, the door, the bars of the cell, and would even slam the wardrobe doors. The prison staff never reprimanded the prisoner for his behaviour, even though no one in the wing was able to sleep. The other prisoners were all moved to different wings after 15 days, even though some of them had arrived after me. I remained in the wing for new arrivals, unable to sleep, day or night, for three months. This exceeded the ten-day period set out in the prison regulations. Over the course of these three months, I sent written complaints to prison management, but never received a response. I was moved to another cell in the same wing, where I could still hear the prisoner making noise.

After three months in the wing for new arrivals, I was transferred to a cell in another part of the prison. There, builders were carrying out refurbishments in the cell next to mine, which involved the use of pneumatic drills. Living with sleep deprivation and constant noise, I started to suffer anxiety attacks and would shake uncontrollably. I had never experienced such psychological stress before entering prison.

In September 2016, I was transferred to another prison and was able to see a psychiatrist upon my arrival. He confirmed that I was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to my previous detention conditions, notably the lack of sleep and the injustice I felt given my situation.

Following a disciplinary incident, I was sent back to the first prison in 2019. As soon as I returned, I started having severe neck pain. On several occasions, I went to the workshop but started suffering intense pain in my feet and neck after sitting for two or three hours. My ears would ring and I would feel dizzy. It was as if someone was sticking needles all over my body, and I felt like my eyes were going to explode. I would feel pain in my spine, followed by electric shocks in my head and legs. These symptoms were never-ending. The constant pain left me unable to stand or sit down.

I asked the prison medical service for help numerous times about the pain I was experiencing and how intense it was. I didn’t receive any treatment. Instead, I was told by a member of medical staff that there was nothing wrong with me, even though I had never been examined. Some of the staff even mocked me and joked about my health issues. They seemed to assume that prisoners were always feigning illness.

When I was no longer able to work due to the pain, I would return to my cell before the workday was over. I would then receive disciplinary action from the prison staff for refusing to work. The prison administration used this to advise the parole board against my release; the board bases its decision to grant or deny parole on a prisoner’s behavioural record.

During the day, the electricity was turned off in my cell until 5:30pm. I was only allowed out of my cell for 15 minutes each day to take a shower. I was not permitted to go for a walk, despite this being required by European and international prison standards. I was kept in these conditions for 20 months.

I was able to undergo an MRI scan in December 2020, thanks to the Romanian Embassy, who repeatedly petitioned the prison administration about my treatment. The scan confirmed that I had serious issues with my neck and spine. The doctor at the public hospital I attended prescribed me the treatment I needed, as well as time off from my work in prison. He forwarded my prescription to both the medical service and the management of the prison where I was incarcerated. Despite this, my detention conditions remained the same. The medical service ignored the doctor’s advice, and I was unable to access the treatment I needed. Prison management also refused to grant me the sick leave prescribed by the doctor. The prison doctor justified this refusal by reminding me that I was required to go to work every day, without exception.

I was no longer able to contact the outside world: the last contact I had with my family was in April 2020. I learnt that my father had passed away in a hospital in Romania. I had been unable to talk to him for eight years.

My health is not getting any better. I can’t get out of bed, as I become dizzy and lose my balance when I try to sit up. I’m losing all sensation in my legs. The only way to ease my pain, without treatment, is to stay in bed, even if that means being punished for refusing to work.

I keep explaining my unbearable health conditions to the prison administration, outlining their failure to provide sufficient access to medical care. When I have asked the administration to be transferred to another prison, in the hope of better access to treatment, the response has been that I won’t receive better care elsewhere and that it is not up to me to decide which prison I want to live in.

In September 2021, I was sent back to the second prison where I was previously incarcerated. I have been placed in solitary confinement several times for refusing to provide a urine sample. By my count, I have spent 33 days in isolation, to date. The incessant noise in solitary confinement heightens the psychological stress of isolation and prevents me from sleeping.

Any prisoner sanctioned for a disciplinary incident has a three-day window after initially receiving the sanction to appeal this decision with the legal service. Prison management never gave me the documents I needed to appeal in time, and the guards claimed not to have them, when I complained. By the time I finally received the documents, the deadline for appeal had already passed. After five days in solitary confinement, you are forbidden to have any contact with the outside world, including visits, letters and parcels.

My detention conditions have altered my life significantly. At 43 years old, I can’t sit down for half an hour without unbearable pain in my head, neck and back. I’m constantly dizzy. I spend 22 hours a day in bed.

I can’t do anything, not for myself nor anyone else. The prison medical service refuses to let me see a doctor or receive specialist treatment. I’m cast aside, as if I don’t matter.

Incarceration deprives me of my freedom, but it shouldn’t deprive me of my rights. My time in detention demonstrates how the prison administration diverts attention away from any violations that occur. I never would have thought such inhuman treatment was possible before entering the hell that is the Swiss prison system.