Amnesty International is concerned by allegations received over a number of years that people in the custody of law enforcement agents and prison guards in Italy are sometimes subjected to deliberate and unwarranted physical violence, in some cases amounting to torture. The cases of alleged ill-treatment have almost exclusively concerned criminal suspects and convicted criminals. The ill-treatment reportedly occurred within the first 24 hours of custody in the majority of cases. An increasing number of allegations of ill-treatment in police custody and in prisons concern non- European immigrants. While most allegations have been or are the subject of investigations, AI has concerns about the conduct of these inquiries, of which many have ended inconclusively.