Conditions of Imprisonment in Eu Member States and the Candidate Countries

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Conditions of Imprisonment in Eu Member States and the Candidate Countries Directorate-General Internal Policies Policy Department Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs - CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS - CONDITIONS OF IMPRISONMENT IN EU MEMBER STATES AND THE CANDIDATE COUNTRIES STUDY ID. N°: IPOL/C/IV/2003/04/02 MARCH 2004 PE 358.897 EN This study was requested by: the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs This paper is published in the following languages: English (original) and French. Author: The International Centre for Prison Studies, King's College London, University of London Responsable Official: Mr Jean-Louis ANTOINE-GREGOIRE Policy Unit, Directorate C Remard 03 J 016 Tel: 42753 Fax : Email : [email protected] Manuscript completed in March 2004 Paper copies can be obtained through: - E-mail: [email protected] - Site intranet: http://www.ipolnet.ep.parl.union.eu/ipolnet/cms/pid/438 Brussels, European Parliament, 2004 The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. -2- PE 358.897 EN CONTENTS FOREWORD 1 SUMMARY 3 INTRODUCTION 13 PART 1: OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS 15 The legal framework Overcrowding and prison population levels Pre-trial detention Sentence lengths and life imprisonment Health care Activities and regimes Family and other contacts Discipline Solitary confinement Discrimination and racism Juveniles and young people Women PART 2: COUNTRY REPORTS 39 Austria Luxembourg Belgium Malta Cyprus The Netherlands Czech Republic Poland Denmark Portugal Estonia Slovakia Finland Slovenia France Spain Germany Sweden Greece UK England and Wales Hungary UK Northern Ireland Ireland UK Scotland Italy Latvia Lithuania -3- PE 358.897 EN FOREWORD The International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) of London University is pleased to present this report to the European Parliament on the conditions of imprisonment in EU Member States and the candidate countries 1. It is important to bear in mind that prisons cannot be considered in isolation. The use which a country makes of them and the conditions within them depend on many external circumstances. In all current member states of the EU and in three of the candidate countries the number of persons in prison has been rising significantly in recent years, despite the fact that in many of these countries crime rates have been falling and there is no evidence of improvements of levels of detection of crime. In the Netherlands, for example, the number of people in prison has doubled in the last 12 years and in England and Wales it has gone up by 60% over the same period. Traditionally in the existing states of the EU imprisonment has been regarded as a place of last resort, to be used only for the most serious crimes and then for the shortest necessary time. This principle is now under threat in a number of countries. This has happened for two reasons. The first is that courts are using imprisonment more often in cases where they would not previously have done so. The second is that sentence lengths in many countries have increased considerably. The work which ICPS does around the world convinces us that an excessive use of imprisonment can be a challenge to the democratic stability of a country. This fact needs to be borne in mind in Europe. This increased use of imprisonment and resultant levels of overcrowding have had severe consequences for prison conditions. In some countries regimes have become impoverished, with reduced work, education and training opportunities available for prisoners. The implications for health are very worrying, as the following report shows. In all countries there are issues to do with the physical and mental health of prisoners and the increase of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, and blood borne diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis, are of major concern not only with the prison environment but also for the community at large. Throughout the world the most marginalised groups in any society are generally to be found in disproportionate numbers within prisons. This means that within prisons one has to be constantly alert to the dangers of discrimination against minority groups, of racism and of xenophobia. In many countries the proportion of foreign nationals in prisons has increased significantly in recent years and it is now over 30% in eight of the countries in this study. It should be borne in mind that this report is concerned only with prisons. It does not deal with problems of detention in other locations, such as police stations, immigration detention centres or secure hospitals. A further development in recent years has been the concern of state governments about national and international terrorism. This has had important implications for prison conditions. In several countries very restrictive conditions of imprisonment have been imposed on prisoners accused or convicted of terrorist or terrorist-related 1 The term ‘candidate countries’ is used throughout since this was the phrase used in the contract documents. In fact, the countries studied, in addition to the 15 current EU member states, are the 10 countries which have been given EU accession status. -4- PE 358.897 EN offences. In some cases regulations which were introduced on a temporary basis for a very small number of prisoners have become permanent and have been applied to increasing numbers of persons, as has happened in Italy. In other jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, persons have been detained without charge and are held in conditions of the highest security. Having expressed all of these concerns, it is important also to recognise the safeguards which exist in Europe to ensure that prisoners do not suffer torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. The most important is the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the access which prisoners have to the European Court of Human Rights. In recent years the Court has been active in dealing with cases of prisoners brought before it and the case law relating to Court decisions is now wide-ranging. The most significant cases are described in the following report. The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT) is unique in the right which it has to inspect all places of detention in any member state. Its reports following visits to individual states and its periodic reports have been influential in ensuring that failure to observe human rights standards are highlighted. In a number of countries governments have responded to CPT criticism by changing their legislation and regulations. In the light of the increasing pressure on prison conditions for the reasons mentioned above, the work of the CPT is now central to any attempt to maintain standards of decency and humanity in prisons and to ensure that prison conditions meet international human rights standards. State parties, both individually and through the European Parliament, should do everything possible to support its work. Professor Andrew Coyle March 2004 -5- PE 358.897 EN SUMMARY The report The report looks at the prison situation in the 15 European Union (EU) Member States and the 10 candidate (accession) countries (27 jurisdictions). The main emphasis in the report is on the extent to which the prison law conforms to international human rights requirements and how far prison systems operate within the legal framework set by the United Nations and Council of Europe human rights instruments and the interpretation of that framework in the Council of Europe recommendations and reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The report is concerned with prisons only, although similar issues arise wherever people are detained, such as juvenile reformatories, mental hospitals and immigration detention centres. The report is based on an analysis of the prison laws and official reports from the 27 jurisdictions, reports of the United Nations and the Council of Europe and information from international and domestic non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other sources, such as the US State Department Annual Human Rights Reports. The existing Member States and candidate countries The different histories of the current EU member states (with Malta and Cyprus) and the accession states of Central and Eastern Europe are reflected in their prison systems. The current EU states have run their prison systems for several decades within the Council of Europe framework, aiming at conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and providing access to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for complainants. The eight accession states from Central and Eastern Europe come from a system with different features. In some the severity of imprisonment as well as the length of the sentence was decided by the sentencing court. Private visits of up to three days in apartments within the prison for family members are a feature of the system in some accession states, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Since prisoners in most of these states are accommodated in large dormitories with a screened toilet, access to sanitation is not an issue as it is in some EU states, such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Scotland, where prisoners live in cells with no toilet. Conformity with the ECHR Wholesale and flagrant breaches of domestic and international law are not found in any of the states studied for this report. Prisoners do not routinely die of malnutrition, untreated illnesses or at the hands of guards or other prisoners. Prisoners are not regularly placed in dark cells as punishment nor held in fetters. Women prisoners are not consistently in danger from sexual abuse by guards or male prisoners, nor are children in prison normally at grave risk of abuse from adult prisoners.
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