A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management

A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management Handbook for prison staff THIRD EDITION THIRD EDITION Andrew Coyle Helen Fair Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management Handbook for Prison Staff THIRD EDITION Andrew Coyle Helen Fair In cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross Published by Institute for Criminal Policy Research Birkbeck, University of London Email: [email protected] Websites: www.icpr.org.uk and www.prisonstudies.org © The authors and ICPR 2018 The moral right of the authors has been asserted. ISBN 978-0-907904-33-5 The Institute for Criminal Policy Research A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management has been produced by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), which is based in the Law School of Birkbeck, University of London. ICPR conducts policy-oriented, academically grounded research on all aspects of criminal justice, including comparative research on prisons and the use of imprisonment worldwide. As part of its work on imprisonment, ICPR compiles and hosts the World Prison Brief: an online database providing free access to statistics and other information on prison systems around the world. Further details of ICPR’s work are available at www.icpr.org.uk, and the World Prison Brief can be accessed at www.prisonstudies.org. The International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their dignity and relieve their suffering, often with its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners. The organization also seeks to prevent hardship by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and championing universal humanitarian principles. In 2017, ICRC delegates conducted more than 4,400 visits to about 1,400 places of detention in 92 contexts. Through their visits, the delegates reached over 940,000 people deprived of their liberty, including detainees under the jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals. They followed up on 35,274 detainees individually. Designed by Intertype Preface The first two editions of this handbook (2002 and 2009) were published by the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS). In 2014 ICPS was incorporated in the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), part of the School of Law of Birkbeck, University of London. The handbook is available in 19 languages, several of which are available for free download from www.prisonstudies.org. The handbook is used regularly by intergovernmental organisations and other international bodies in their prison reform work. From the outset the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been especially supportive and has funded translations of the handbook to assist its work in a number of countries. We are delighted that ICRC has been directly involved in work on this third edition. The handbook is also used by governments and prison administrations in a number of countries as a tool for developing reform strategies. Another satisfying feature of the previous editions has been the manner in which the handbook has been accepted by first line prison staff around the world as a practical help in their daily work. In this third edition the core text has been left largely unaltered since it has stood the test of time. However, in the last decade there have been a number of new international and regional standards as well as developing case law concerning the use of imprisonment. An obvious example is the revision of The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners now known as The Nelson Mandela Rules (2015) and, as far as possible, all of these have been incorporated into the new edition. Particular thanks are due to Dr Jessica Jacobson, Director of ICPR, and Catherine Heard, Director of the World Prison Research Programme at ICPR, and to Mary Murphy, ICRC Detention Adviser, and her ICRC colleagues, for their contributions to this edition. Andrew Coyle Emeritus Professor of Prison Studies University of London Helen Fair Research Fellow, Institute for Criminal Policy Research Birkbeck, University of London 3 This page is deliberately left blank. 4 Foreword by the International Committee of the Red Cross For over a century visits by the ICRC to places of detention and private discussions with the people held there have been at the heart of the institution’s efforts to ensure that detainees’ fundamental rights and basic human needs are met with dignity. Addressing humanitarian concerns through practical recommendations and within a confidential dialogue between the ICRC and those responsible for meeting those needs, usually prison staff, is also a vital part of that endeavour. It is, after all, the duty of the authorities to address the vulnerability inherent in deprivation of liberty, when people suddenly have reduced access to family and community and become dependent on others for their most basic needs. This is a challenging duty anywhere, but particularly in the countries where ICRC is most often active in detention, those affected by war and other violence. Since it was first published in 2002, A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management has been a tool used by the ICRC in discussing with prison staff what it means in practice to treat with humanity those accused or convicted under criminal law. In 2009 a second edition of the Handbook reflected a welcome and growing trend of prisons opening up to external monitoring by both international and national bodies. At the same time, however, events in the external world meant that the book needed to re-emphasize the centrality of the notion of dignity in all dealings with prisoners and to restate the absolute prohibition of torture and ill treatment. The Handbook also featured new chapters devoted to high security prisoners and foreign nationals, reflecting what was already then, and continues now, to be a worrying growth in their numbers. This third edition, to which the ICRC has gladly contributed from its experience in places of detention worldwide, gives an opportunity to disseminate important messages contained in the most recent international detention standards, the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules. Among the provisions particularly welcomed by the ICRC are those that expand the data which must be recorded and acted upon in relation to each individual detainee. For example, information that facilitates family contact and which enables timely access for detainees to legal representation and the courts. Also included in this new edition are a swathe of provisions in the Nelson Mandela Rules concerning healthcare for prisoners. These emphasize firstly that this is a State responsibility. They recall also the clinical independence of health staff working in prisons, the importance of continuity in healthcare and of prompt access to healthcare in emergency, the need to obtain the informed consent of the prisoner to treatment, and for up to date and confidential medical records to be maintained and to accompany each prisoner on their journey. The particular needs of women and girls, and others who experience particular vulnerabilities in detention are acknowledged, as is the consideration that must be given to the best interests of the child in decisions made when those on whom they depend are detained, in addition to when children are detained in their own right. The book reflects too the Rules’ clear definition of solitary confinement and the strict limitations and control to be placed on this and other extreme forms of deprivation of liberty. Searches, and in particular intimate body searches, are to be restricted. Access for the detainee to effective reporting and complaints mechanisms is encouraged and the need for and nature of effective inspections and investigations are clarified, particularly when torture is alleged. Also spelt out is what is expected in the recruitment and training of prison staff at all levels. 5 The ICRC is well aware that implementing these and other relevant standards can sometimes seem challenging to prison staff. They often face infrastructure that may impede rather than facilitate their tasks, resources inadequate to the numbers of prisoners confined and lack of clarity as to what is ultimately expected of them and the institution they serve. We hope that this handbook, which explains what it means in practice to be guided by the core principle of human dignity when working with prisoners, will be of encouragement to prison staff who wish to deliver humane treatment and conditions. We hope too that it will influence the many other actors who have the power and responsibility to bring about positive and necessary change in prisons. The ICRC will continue to endeavour to support such efforts wherever it can. Dominik Stillhart Director of Operations, International Committee of the Red Cross 6 Contents 1 Introduction page 9 2 The principles of good prison management page 13 3 Prison staff and the administration of prisons page 17 4 Total prohibition of torture page 35 5 The dignity of the person page 42 6 Prisoners and health care page 50 7 Operating secure, safe and orderly prisons page 61 8 Management of high security prisoners page 76 9 Disciplinary procedures, sanctions and punishments page 84 10 Constructive activities and social reintegration page 92 11 Contact with the outside world page 103 12 Foreign national prisoners page 111 13 Requests and complaints page 115 14 Recognising diversity page 121 15 Inspection procedures page 125 16 Pre-trial prisoners and all others under detention without sentence page 133 17 Juvenile and young prisoners page 143 18 Women prisoners page 149 19 Life and long term prisoners page 157 20 Prisoners under sentence of death page 162 Appendix page 166 References page 169 7 This page is deliberately left blank. 8 1 Introduction Who the This handbook is intended to assist everyone who has anything to do with prisons.

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