Prison Regulations Research Articles

Wielokulturowość w zakładach karnych. Uwagi o problemie i unormowaniach prawnych

Multiculturality in penal institutions. Remarks on the problem and legal normsThe article is devoted to the multiculturality of the prison population. It has recently become one of the most important political, social and economic problems facing contemporary societies as well as an important and growing penal problem.The article is divided into two parts. In part one the author discusses the terminology associated with multiculturality. He formulates his own, operational definition of the concept with regard to the contemporary penal space. In addition, he points to the distinctive features of inmates representing various cultures nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, and discusses their significance in working with prisoners. In part two the author analyses how the question of multiculturality is tackled in the Polish prison law with regard to two groups of convicts: those from different cultural and religious backgrounds, speaking different languages and having different customs, as well as foreigners. He points to two areas of legal regulations, i.e. formal procedures applied by officers with regard to individuals under arrest or already sentenced as well as recommendations of international law concerning the general rules of working with this group of inmates, and the level to which they have been taken into account in Polish law. He concludes that the two aspects are barely noticed in Polish prison law. The author explains his opinion in detail, drawing on a review of relevant provisions of Polish prison law. The article ends with a call to investigate the scale and nature of the phenomenon in Polish penal institutions, as it will become more urgent in the future, which prompts questions about respect for the laws, values and customs associated with the cultures represented by prisoners, and, on the other hand, about their compatibility with the values, attitudes, behaviours and principles of social conduct accepted in Poland. The author calls for a discussion about how to organise custodial sentences for individuals from varied cultural backgrounds and how to expand the Polish prison regulations in this respect.

Organizacja więziennictwa polskiego (1918-1939)

Recovering after the partition period, the Polish state faced many challenges and one of them definitely was the penitentiary policy. Among the legacies of the period of partition were three different prison systems and different regulations in the field of penitentiary law. The main task of the Polish legislator was to unify the national prison system by taking into account not only the specificity of the existing solutions but also the achievementsof the contemporary penitentiary. The purpose of the paper is to present the history of the organization of the Polish prison system between 1918 and 1939 in more detail. It is necessary to describe the political situation in the Polish lands during the final years of the First World War which significantly influenced the different character of the institutions in the Polish territories.The reflections on the organization of the Polish prisons during the interwar period will be centered around the following issues: taking over prisons by the Polish authorities, systematic unification of the structure of the prison system, prison stratification, the legal status of the prison staff, the education system of prison officers as well as the system of supervision of the execution of prison sentences. The literature on the subject highlights the importance of the international penitentiary congresses for the development of the penitentiary law in the interwar period. The contribution of the Polish delegations to the works of the London, Prague and Berlincongresses was significant. Taking into account the importance of the resolutions of the congresses, the paper will present the participation of Poles in the debates. Research methodology is based on the analysis of normative acts devoted to the organization of the Polish prison system between 1918 and 1939. The following are among the analyzed elements: the decree on the provisional prison regulations of the 8th of February1919, the regulation by the President of the Republic of Poland on the organization of the prison system of the 7th of March 1928, the regulation by the Minister of Justice on the rules and regulations of the prison system of the 20th of June 1931, the regulation by the President of the Republic of Poland on the Prison Guard of the 23rd of August 1932, and the act on the organization of the prisoner system of the 26th of July 1939. Memories ofpersons involved in prison activity and publications pertaining to penitentiary law issues from the interwar period were also used to prepare this article.

The role of music among prisoners and prison staff: A qualitative research study

Music is an integral part of every subculture, including that of prisons. However, no research has yet examined the meaning of music for prisoners and prison staff. The present research examined the role of music in the world of prisoners in Israel and how prison staff experience it. Content analysis of interviews with 10 convicted prisoners and 9 prison staff members indicated four central themes: the different ways prisoners consume and are exposed to music; the role of music in provoking positive and negative feelings; the role of music in the relationships among inmates – closeness and conflicts; and the role of music in the relationships between prisoners and prison staff, particularly in terms of prison regulation of music consumption.

Prison Vocational Labour Under Mandela Rules and Nigerian Prison Laws: A Comparative Study

Prison Vocational Labour (PVL) is an integral aspect of the correctional facilities that provide prisoners with the ability to learn better life skills. Nowadays, most of the prisons have a directorate that is entrusted with the responsibility of training prisoners through PVL. The purpose of PVL is to impart employable skills so that they may be employed after release. Within the international legal framework, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) provides a benchmark to all States for the treatment of prisoners as well as the nature and conduct of PVL. In the context of Nigeria, the domestic legal framework which consists of Prison Act, Prison Regulations and Prisons Standing Orders define the nature of PVL and how it should be carried out at the Nigerian Prisons. This study examines the compatibility between Nigerian legal framework and Mandela Rules on the nature and conduct of PVL.

Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire: Microcosms of Modernity. By Kent F. Schull. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014. Pp. xiii + 226. £70.

<i>Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire: Microcosms of Modernity</i>. By Kent F. Schull. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014. Pp. xiii + 226. £70.

Women in Prison in Spain: The Implementation of Bangkok Rules to the Spanish Prison Legislation

This paper aims to take a close look at the reality of female crime in Spain. On the one hand, we will focus on describing the current situation of women incarcerated in Spanish prisons, an especially vulnerable group given their peculiarities and needs. Through secondary sources, we describe the situation of discrimination against women in these prisons. On the other hand, the paper establishes whether the current Spanish prison legislation echoes all or some of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures of Freedom for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules, 2010). To this end, a detailed analysis of both standards, national and international, is essential. As a general conclusion, although Spain has high standard prison regulations and modern facilities, female prisoners in Spanish prison are subject to discrimination. It is from such a perspective that this article proposes that the necessary changes and appropriate penitentiary policies to meet the specific needs of female prisoners are established.

Prisoners with intellectual disability: How to adapt interventions and the environment

There is an increasing interest in the Spanish prison to give the appropriate care when they are in prison. This situation has a special meaning in inmates with learning disabilities, as they are a vulnerable group inside prison. They are vulnerable in different areas as they have a high prevalence dual diagnosis (both with mental illness and drug misuse), they could suffer from abuse from other inmates, difficulties to understand prison regulations, etc. The prevalence of intellectual disability (ID) in the prison setting has been poorly evaluated. In Spain, despite various approximations or estimates regarding people with intellectual disabilities no reliable data is available.In our presentation, we will give an overview of the care of this group of patients, presenting some data from an epidemiological study in Spain. The rate of learning disabilities was of 3.77% of the study population has an IQ below 70, and 7, 3% has borderline IQ rate. We also describe a new setting in one of wards of a prison of Barcelona where has a model of therapeutic community for treating offenders with intellectual disabilities. This resource open two years ago and is run between prison services and an organization “Accepta” (specialized in people with learning disability and penal law problems). This is an effort from the prison services to adapt to the needs of inmates and deliver a better service with a good post-release follow-up.And finally, we present some data about learning disability in penitentiary psychiatric settings (the prevalence as a main diagnose is around 10%).Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Znaczenie wychowania fizycznego w polskim systemie penitencjarnym w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym

The interwar period was, for the Polish penitentiary system, a period of development of modern forms of contemporary prison, taking into account the experience of other countries and the recent provisions of international penitentiary conventions. One of them indicated the importance of physical and mental health of prisoners for their resocialization and a need to implement physical activity programs in prisons. Poland became a forerunner in this field in Europe. From the mid-twenties of the twentieth century on in many prisons in the country systematic physical exercises were carried out, staff officers were trained – instructors and sports infrastructure were created. What is more, legal acts were developed (prison regulations, penalty code, prison act), regulating the implementation of physical education in all prisons throughout the country. It was important that it included both men and women, not only adult prisoners in prisons, but also juvenile offenders in correctional educative institutions. It became an important element in the educational programs of the Polish penitentiary system in that period.

Controlling Consensual Sex Among Prisoners

Despite recent legal advances for LGBT citizens, including the Supreme Court's recognition of a constitutional right to engage in private, consensual, same-sex sex, prisons continue to regulate sex in much the same way they have been doing since the nineteenth century. Nationwide, prisons bar consensual sex among prisoners, and those who violate this policy face severe punishment, including administrative segregation. Interviews with prison officials from twenty-three states uncover beliefs linking consensual sex with violence that places the overall security of the prison at risk. While supporting LGBT rights and the decriminalization of same-sex sex in society, officials insist that prisons are not suited for similar change. This article explains why prison officials have been so committed to this policy and argues that the time has come to reconsider prison regulation of consensual sex.

Resisting the Audit Explosion: The Art of Prison Inspection

The growth of managerialism has led to the expansion of technologies of control and monitoring within prisons, including key performance targets and audits. A longer-standing method of prison regulation is provided by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). This article draws upon ethnographic research in order to consider how inspection is located in the context of managerialism. The article explores the structure of inspection and the micro-processes of practice and culture. It is argued that prison inspection provides a distinctive form of monitoring that is concerned with the lived experience of imprisonment rather than management systems and promotes values of humanity as opposed to those of economic rationality propagated by managerial practices.

Dylematy pracy penitencjarnej z więźniami odbywającymi skrajnie długie kary pozbawienia wolności

This article focuses on the dilemmas of working in prisons with people serving the two most severe sentences, viz. 25 years imprisonment and life imprisonment. The author examines this from two angles. The first concerns the doctrinal and theoretical controversies surrounding the aims and purposes of serving long sentences. The author reviews the most prominent viewpoints in this area while pointing out the associated problems and dilemmas. The second is an attempt to relate the theoretical controversies surrounding the aims and purposes of the long prison sentences to the realities of prison practice, based as it is on three uniform systems of executing prison sentences, viz. standard (1 month to 15 years), 25 years and life. The author reports the results of his empirical research in this area. The author devotes special attention to the dilemmas that arise when a prisoner serving a very long sentence participates in a program of planned activities, some of which are ethical in nature. He keeps this in mind when attempting to evaluate prison practice. The fundamental question he poses should prompt a debate on the adequacy of this use of the rehabilitation model of executing a prison sentence and its consistency with the aims and purposes of this type of punishment, generally considered to be the best and most versatile. The author takes up the debate and examines the essence and the arguments of the controversy surrounding the purposes of long prison sentences. He considers which of the aims and purposes that appear in the prison literature are suitable for use in executing these sentences. The author consequently questions the purpose and moral acceptability of correctional activities. He points out that the main purpose of long sentences is to remove prisoners from society, which is difficult to reconcile with their corrective and rehabilitative functions. This illustrates the ethical ambiguity of correctional measures. The author later discusses the results of his own empirical studies, undertaken from this theoretical perspective. These focused on the following: 1. working with prisoners serving very long sentences in practice, and in particular, the sentencing regimen to which they are subjected; 2. the tasks and goals that prison staff set themselves in this connection; 3. whether and to what extent the designated ethical dilemmas are recognised in day-to-day prison work. This study comprised a diagnostic survey (a questionnaire and structured interviews), indirect observation (examining prison documents e.g. the personal files of prisoners serving very long sentences, prison work programs, prison regulations etc.). The questionnaire was completed by 71 prisoners serving the most severe sentences, including 15 life prisoners. Sixty two questionnaires were suitable for compilation. More than 5 interviews were conducted with life prisoners and 11 were conducted with prisoners serving 25-year sentences.

Preventing Suicide in French Prisons

This paper shows that preventing ‘suicide risks’ in French prison regulations is thwarted in two prisons by professional criteria regarding credibility and solidarity, as well as by the balance of power between prisoners and guards, in addition to the realization, on the part of the judges responsible for sentencing, of the risks posed by recidivists. The results of this study should provoke a re-evaluation of suicide prevention programmes when considered in the light of the numerous mediations and transcriptions between these programmes and their subsequent concretization in the culture and practices of prison employees.

Model law to address HIV/AIDS in prison

This paper makes the case for, and describes an effort to develop and promote the use of, model law to address HIV/AIDS in prisons. First, it outlines the concept of model law and what model law can bring to advocacy around law reform. Second, it describes why model law is particularly important to safeguard the rights of prisoners and people who use drugs. Third, it relates the methodology involved in developing model law. Three important areas of prison law and regulation related to HIV/AIDS are then described: provisions on the likelihood and duration of incarceration, including periods in pretrial detention; the legal foundation for HIV/AIDS care in prison; and the legal framework for comprehensive harm reduction services in prisons. A legislative framework to address rape and sexual violence in prison is also outlined. The paper sets out broad principles of how prison laws and regulations should be reformed to accord with human rights principles, and provides a number of examples of the specific word...

RLUIPA is Unfair, Unwise, and Unconstitutional

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is unconstitutional as well as unfair and should be struck down by the courts. This commentary will discuss the constitutional principles that invalidate RLUIPA, which covers both land use and prison regulations. The focus of this commentary will be on its land use side.

Interfering with gaol mail; prisoners' legal letters and the courts

In 1983, a report by the organisation JUSTICE into the state of prisons considered that the ability of convicted prisoners to communicate with those outside prison, by letters or visits was, as prison regulations then stood, ‘severely restricted’. Recent years have, however, witnessed a relaxation in the controls imposed on prisoners’ legal and non-legal correspondence, including the abolition of the prior and simultaneous ventilation rules and many restrictions affecting those convicted of less serious offences. Despite this fact, a number of restrictions remain, and the practices of prison authorities in opening, examining, reading and stopping legal mail continue to occupy domestic and international courts.

Cruel And Unusual Punishment: A Slowly Metamorphosing Concept

Newly appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas criticized his colleagues for turning the Constitution into a national code of prison regulation and for misapplying the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment of the Bill of Rights forbids the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment, a concept vaguely defined by the Constitution's authors. Court interpretations of the concept reveal that it draws its meaning from an evolving standard of decency that represents the progress of a maturing society. The idea of "cruel and unusual punishment" was first applied by the U.S. Supreme Court to state statutes in 1961 and to the prison system in 1976. Currently, there is no consensus on the application of the concept to state statutes in determining constitutional punishments. In prisons, however, the application of it has stalled and narrowed considerably, making prisoners less likely to prevail successfully in the courtroom. This paper concludes that Justice Thomas's characterization of the Court's interpretation of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause is unfounded hyperbole.

The Case for Muslim Constitutional Interpretive Activity

Muslim Involvement: The Court Record 1.Prisoners' RightsCan we rely upon the courts to protect Islam and Muslims from discriminatory treatment? Have the courts considered Islam to be a 'religion' worthy of constitutional protection? The issue of First Amendment protection of Muslim beliefs and practices has arisen most often in cases brought by African-American Muslims who are incarcerated. In fact, the area of law to which Muslims have made their most substantial contribution to date is the area of prisoners' rights litigation. African-American Muslim inmates have been responsible for establishing prisoners' constitutional rights to worship. Cases brought by Muslims have established that prisoners have the right to assemble for religious services; to consult a cleric of their faith; to possess religious publications and to subscribe to religious literature; to wear unobstrusive religious symbols such as medallions; to have prepared a special diet required by their religion; and to correspond with their spiritual leaders. The court record demonstrates that Muslim inmates' religious liberty claims, challenging prison regulations that impinge on the free exercise of the Islamic faith, have been accepted only under certain circumstances. In brief, the responsiveness of the courts to Muslim inmates' claims has turned on a number of factors including: (1) the issue of equality of treatment of all religious groups in prison; (2) the courts' reticence to reverse the decisions of prison officials; (3) the degree to which the inmates' challenges would undermine the fundamental interests of the state (e.g. in prison security and administrative efficiency); and (4) the showing that Islam is parallel in significant ways to the conventional Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths.Constitutional protection of Islamic practices in prison and elsewhere, however, has not been automatic. Many Muslim organizations, the Nation of Islam in particular, have been treated as cults, or suspect and dangerous groups, due in part to the perception that Muslims teach racial hatred, and have not been regarded in the same respect as 'mainline' religious groups. It has been argued before the courts that Muslim doctrine contains political aspirations and economic goals as well as racial prejudice and should be suppressed in the interest of society. The gist of this argument is that certain Muslim groups are primarily political and not religious associations and thus ...

Zakład karny i wykonanie kary pozbawienia wolności w opinii społeczności lokalnej

Zakład karny i wykonanie kary pozbawienia wolności w opinii społeczności lokalnej

Changes in Offending Against Prison Regulations as a Function of Policy Changes in Three Prisons: A Retrospective Analysis

Changes in Offending Against Prison Regulations as a Function of Policy Changes in Three Prisons: A Retrospective Analysis

Conjugal Visitation Rights and the Appropriate Standard of Judicial Review for Prison Regulations

Conjugal Visitation Rights and the Appropriate Standard of Judicial Review for Prison Regulations