Protection Of Prisoners Research Articles

Protection of Prisoners' Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Indonesia

Protection of Prisoners' Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Indonesia

Protection of Prisoners' Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Indonesia

Protection of Prisoners' Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Indonesia

Protection of Prisoners with Mental Health Disorders in Italy: Lights and Shadows after the Abolition of Judicial Psychiatric Hospitals.

In Italy, a person suffering from a mental disorder who commits a crime will be given a custodial security order and serve the period of admission at a Residenza per la esecuzione delle misure di sicurezza (REMS) (Residence for the Execution of Security Measures, hereinafter “REMS”). These institutions have been established recently and though equipped with the necessary safety measures, the focus is on psychiatric therapy. Despite being present on a national scale, access is very limited in terms of capacity. Immediate remedial measures are needed, so much so that the European Court of Human Rights recently condemned Italy for this very reason. This article, through a review of the constitutive principles of these institutions, shows how they have very positive aspects such as the attention to necessary psychotherapy in order to protect the right to health and the real taking charge of the fragility of the subjects; however, it is seen how there are many negative aspects linked above all to the scarce availability of places in these structures. The article provides suggestions on a more comprehensive strategy for facilities for detainees with mental disorders.

The role of Israeli judges in authorising solitary confinement placements: Balancing human rights and risk, or neutralising responsibility?

This paper explores the role of judges in authorising the extension of placements in solitary confinement in Israeli prisons for lengthy periods of time. It qualitatively examines, through content analysis of 354 Israeli court decisions, how judges negotiate and rationalise the harmful effects of solitary confinement when balanced against the prison authorities’ reasoning for subjecting prisoners to it. Finding an overall tendency to defer to the expertise of prison authorities, we examine what Sykes & Matza termed ‘techniques of neutralisation’ used by judges to distance themselves from the responsibility for solitary confinement placements and the hardship they inflict. The paper further discusses the socio-legal and organisational structures and contexts which incentivise the prioritisation of prison security/discipline over the protection of prisoners from the ‘pains of solitary confinement’.

Towards a typology of prisoners’ awareness of and familiarity with prison inspection and monitoring bodies

Inspection and monitoring bodies have an important role in the protection of prisoners’ rights. Although these bodies are seen as widely beneficial, there is limited research examining their operations in practice. This study addresses this gap in the existing literature by identifying unique profiles of prisoners based on their familiarity with prison oversight bodies. In addition, the relationship between profiles and key factors (personal characteristics, sentence-related variables and those related to life in prison) was examined using multinomial regression. Participants were 508 males randomly selected from three prisons in Ireland. Data were collected between November 2018 and February 2019, using self-administered surveys. Latent class analysis revealed four subgroups of prisoners characterized by distinct patterns of awareness and contact with prison oversight bodies: (1) Low familiarity (44.1 percent); (2) High awareness with low contact (26.4 percent); (3) High familiarity with the Visiting Committees but low with other oversight bodies (14.2 percent); and (4) High familiarity (15.4 percent). Notably, the largest group was the low familiarity group, and few prisoners belonged to the high familiarity group. Nationality, sentence length, confidence in staff and complaint usage were linked to class membership. The results of this study point to the importance of increasing awareness of inspection and monitoring bodies among prisoners in general, and among certain groups in particular.

Efforts and Challenges in Protecting Prisoners’ Rights in Ilu Abba Bor and Buno Bedelle Zones

The paper strongly emphasizes on the prisoners’ rights in Oromia National Regional State particularly the prisoners’ rights of Bunno Bedele and I/A/Boor prison administration. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to is to test the extent to which rights of prisoners are enforced at the study area and then to suggest possible solutions for intervention or re-intervention (against any gap to be identified) to the stakeholders such as: The Prison Administration, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Judiciary. Thus, in order to identify the problems concerning the protections of prisoners’ right in the two zones’ Prison Administration, deep interviews and personal observations were conducted with prisoners and with top officials of different prison institutions. In doing so, the paper identified the problems concerning the protection of prisoners’ rights to food and water, free medical services, the right to sanitations, the right to bedding and clothing, the right to contact with families. Further, the existing proclamation and regulation regarding to the treatments of prisoners could not properly protect the rights of prisoners because both the proclamation and regulation not clearly provide the rights of prisoners as provided in other International Human Rights that directly related with protection of prisoners. Based on the findings, the researchers proposed the amendments of the existing regulations for the protections of prisoners’ rights and the need of a country-wide minimum standards and rules that govern every prisons institution of the country.

“Regardless of their sex” or “biological differences”. An analysis of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law on women in prison

Abstract In recent years, a growing attention for the specificities of female detention has spurred the adoption of a consolidated corpus of international soft-law tools, as well as reports on the conditions of incarcerated women. This momentum has not been paralleled by court decisions focusing on gender as a key issue in determining potential violations to prisoners’ rights, neither at a domestic nor at an international level. The paper will explore the gap between said legislation and policies and their implementation, particularly focusing on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The perspective adopted by this Court in interpreting the gender specificities of women in prison seems to be uncritically grounded in the vulnerability paradigm and the protection of motherhood. We will attempt to decode this normative ideology and to read it in context, and in comparison with the consolidated case law of the Court on the legal notion of vulnerability in prison, as well as with its case law on gender topics and the prohibition of discrimination. The analysis will highlight the most critical aspects of the traditional interpretation of gender equality in prison, as well the need to reconsider gender as a relevant issue in the protection of prisoners’ rights.

PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS AND COVID-19: HOW TO STOP THE VIRUS AND GUARANTEE HUMAN RIGHTS?

Starting the COVID-19 pandemic, physical and social distancing, besides wearing masks and frequent use of disinfectant, was and still is the most important preventive measure in stopping the spreading of the new coronavirus. Penitentiary institutions, especially the crowded ones, became a hard place to manage in stopping the infections. Why? Because these institutions are the ones where there is even more need to balance health protection with human rights. Using medical isolation and quarantine in the process of prevention of infections with SARS-CoV-2 virus, is complicated as result of the use of punitive solitary confinement as disciplinary sanction. The paper analyses the possible methods of protection of prisoners’ health during COVID-19 pandemic with parallel protection and respect of their basic and guaranteed human rights.

The European Court of Human Rights and the protection of prisoners’ health

Abstract The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is a key actor in the regulation of prison conditions at the European level. Before 1998, the ECtHR did little more than legitimate state practice in terms of detention, no matter the effects on the health of those detained. Yet, since 1998, the ECtHR has recognised that prisoners are in a particularly vulnerable situation due to their almost total dependence on the authorities, and has defined a number of positive obligations that States are under to protect the health of prisoners. Several reasons have been suggested for this evolution. Firstly, in 1998, the ECHR system was restructured and the ECtHR became a permanent court. Secondly, the Council of Europe’s enlargement process to the East brought about an explosion in the number of applications from prisoners in post-soviet States complaining about severely inadequate prison conditions and overcrowded conditions. Thirdly, the ECtHR began to work more closely with Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), an interdisciplinary body that looks to make structural changes to prison conditions and focuses on the effects on health to prisoners. In this connection, the ECtHR post-1998 also began to rely more heavily on external standards, such as CPT standards, WHO guidelines, and UN Minimum Standards to supplement its reasoning. This study examines the dynamics between the ECtHR’s normative standards of prison conditions and other international prison health standards by tracking the ECtHR’s use of external materials in its assessment of the acceptability of prison conditions. It does so in the context of the ECtHR’s jurisprudence relating to tuberculosis prevention, treatment and control in prisons. Apart from standard improvement, preliminary results demonstrate an increase in the use of WHO documents corresponding with the evolution in the Court’s thinking, and indicate that such documents are increasingly recognised as minimum legal requirements for governments to meet.

Prison law and human rights in post-communist Romania: Staff attitudes toward change

Previous research has documented the crucial role that the perceptions and attitudes of prison staff play in everyday prison practice and the treatment of prisoners. The current study follows this contention in order to investigate how prison staff in Romania perceive the outcomes of the recently adopted prison law advocating the principle of humanization and the protection of prisoners’ rights. Specifically, drawing from Jacobs’ (1980) early study on the impact of the prisoners’ rights movement, the effects of the prison law on: (1) prisoners; (2) prison practice and management; and (3) prison staff are investigated from the perspective of a sample of approximately 300 staff members. Whether these perceptions vary across specific socio-demographic groups, occupational categories and groups defined by their level of job satisfaction, punitive attitudes and commitment to custodial role is also examined. We conclude by arguing that, although time is needed to thoroughly assess the prison law’s effects, surveying prison staff’s opinions and perceptions about its outcomes is nevertheless legitimate, because how staff members feel, experience and perceive these outcomes and whether the balance inclines toward the positive aspects or toward the negative ones are crucial for the success or, on the contrary, the failure of an ongoing implementation of those reforms.

Language, translation and interpreting policies in prisons: Protecting the rights of speakers of non-official languages

Abstract Despite the human rights principle of no discrimination, the growing numbers of imprisoned linguistic minorities around the world face multiple inequalities related to communication barriers: from cultural and social isolation to lack of equal access to facilities and services. This international survey of prison language policies shows that, in general terms, the protection of prisoners’ language rights responds to non-binding international provisions and scarce broadly-defined national ones. At the individual level, however, prison systems can be grouped according to two distinctive factors: (a) the comprehensiveness of their prison language policies, and (b) the type of policy instruments used to provide for language issues. This article describes the content and extent of language, translation and interpreting policies in forty prison systems around the world, placing a final focus on California and England and Wales, which emerge as examples of good practice that could potentially inspire other systems.

The actions of the Public Prosecution Service in the field of health in prisons

In the violent, insalubrious and overpopulated prison environment in which the concerns of penitentiary managers are predominantly focused on security, several actors of the legal world work incessantly to ensure that prisoners enjoy living conditions and access to health care in accordance with their constitutional rights. However, their discourses only appear infrequently in academic research and studies on health in prisons. We decided to ask for the opinion of a District Attorney of the State Public Prosecution Office, Dr. Érika Puppim to share with readers her view and the difficulties in her role in the protection of prisoners.

The Position of Convicted Persons during their Stay in the Correctional Facility and the Implementation of International and European Law in Correctional Institutions in Kosovo

In this project i have tried to describe the position of the convicted persons during their stay in correctional institutions and the implementation of International and European law in these correctional institutions in Kosovo. So first of all Kosovo's legislation on the execution of criminal sanctions, such as cases of postponing the commencement of execution of imprisonment, accepting of convicted persons in correctional institutions placement, food and clothing, the rights of convicted persons during their stay in the correctional institutions. Implementation of international conventions, especially the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Minors, who are deprived of freedom, the states members should take educational measures for persons serving prison a sentence. Implementation of European Law relating to the rights of persons serving prison sentence, such as the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for protection of prisoners who are foreign citizens, because these people have different language and culture from most prisoners who are citizens of the country where they are serving a sentence. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on behavior towards dangerous prisoners, where even though this category of prisoners are dangerous, still forbidden to use inhuman methods against them. Resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for short-term treatment of young convicted persons up to the age of 21, where if it comes to the punishment of these people, the state is responsibility to put them in special correctional institutions and special care. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3p282

The European Court of Human Rights and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights

The European Court of Human Rights and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights

PENGHORMATAN PRINSIP-PRINSIP KEMANUSIAAN TERHADAP TAWANAN PERANG DALAM KONFLIK BERSENJATA MENURUT KONVENSI JENEWA III TAHUN 1949 (Studi Kasus Penyiksaan Tawanan Perang AS Di Penjara Guantanamo)

Humanitarian principle aims to protect and ensure respect for the human. This research uses a normative, and the research also applies a descriptive-analytical approach to examine and analyse the research questions of the thesis. In doing so, this research uses a secondary data, These legal materials are subsequently analysed using a qualitative juridical approach.The results showed that the First, the concept of legal protection of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention III 1949 indicates that the combatants who have the status of 'hors de combat' must be protected and respected in all circumstances. Tribute in the form of an obligation not to commit acts harmful, do not aggravate the situation, and do not kill people who are protected. Penahanpun state obligation to prevent harm and damage; Second, implementation of the Geneva Convention III 1949 against US prisoners of war in Guantanamo is not optimal. This happens because of differences in the interpretation of the Articles in International Humanitarian Law so as to cause the indication practices inhumane treatment, no legal protection, not considered welfare and not related to the outside world at Guantanamo will be undertaken by the US military guards. Keywords: Respect, Humanity, Prisoner of War, Armed Conflict, Guantanamo

Protecting Prisoners

This article considers the impact of international human rights law and standards on the protection of prisoners in the UK, with specific reference to the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998. Although prisoners do benefit from the protection of the Convention within prison, the scope of these rights will be limited by the needs of the prison administration as well as the political climate and the public’s attitude toward prisoners. The conflicts between these variables are addressed. Respect for prisoners’ rights, it is argued, may contribute to raised prison standards and to good order in prison.

Unconventional Warfare

In the years immediately after the Second World War, a new global humanitarian order was established, centred on the United Nations and on the International Committee of the Red Cross 1949 Geneva Conventions. This new order was first put to the test in Korea, where war broke out in mid-1950. Focusing on the problems of the protection of prisoners of war and civilian detainees, this article explores the challenges posed to the new humanitarian order by the Korean War. A close examination of the events of that war reveals the origins of some humanitarian dilemmas that have survived into the twenty-first century.This article has been peer-reviewed.

The Need for Independent Prison Oversight in a Post-PLRA World

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) severely hampered the courts' ability to exercise long-term oversight of conditions in prisons and jails. This article examines the potential for alternative types of correctional oversight in a post-PLRA world. The article begins by assessing the critical role the courts have played in exercising oversight over correctional facilities, while acknowledging the weaknesses of the judicial oversight model and the PLRA's restrictions. The article proposes an alternative model of independent government oversight, involving routine monitoring of all correctional facilities on an ongoing basis. Such preventative inspections have long been the norm in other countries that have been less reliant on the courts for the protection of prisoners' rights. The article explores how such oversight might work, and discusses examples of prison monitoring bodies. Finally, the article addresses the all-important continuing role for the courts in enforcing prisoners' rights in conditions cases.

Oversight of Prison Conditions and Investigations of Deaths in Custody: International Human Rights Standards and the Practice in Ireland

This article examines the mechanisms currently available in Ireland for the oversight of prison conditions and investigation of deaths in custody. It further analyses those against international human rights standards. The establishment of appropriate oversight and investigative mechanisms is increasingly important in the context of the deteriorating conditions in Irish prisons that have been regularly criticized by international bodies such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. This article concludes that some significant reforms are needed in Ireland to ensure effective protection of prisoners’ rights.

Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights

Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights