On 20 May 2025, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released an updated version of its online criminal detention database. Originally launched in 2019 (→eucrim 4/2019, 241), the database provides information about detention conditions in EU countries. It aims to support judges and legal professionals in assessing whether prisoners are at risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of their fundamental rights. This is particularly relevant in cross-border cases.

Information on the database can be accessed by country or by detention issue. The database covers information on some of the following detention issues:

• Detention conditions such as the size of cells, sanitary conditions, solitary confinement, external contacts, access to healthcare, prison food, surveillance, strip searches, protection from violence, and the time prisoners spend outside their cells;
• Information about specific groups like women, foreign nationals, vulnerable inmates, children and young detainees;
• The latest case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) as well as national case law in over 183 cases across EU countries, including case summaries in English (it can be filtered by year, country, or deciding body);
• Reports from relevant monitoring bodies on detention conditions in the countries covered, e.g., from the UN Committee against Torture, the National Preventive Mechanism, and the Council of Europe (e.g., CPT);
• A research findings section showing all country reports produced by FRA’s research network;
• A national standards section giving information on legal standards for each country.

The 2025 update of the database contains national standards, laws, and monitoring reports on detention conditions from across the EU and the United Kingdom.