THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH GLOBAL REPORT ON PRISONS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED REPORTS FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH PRISON PROJECT Prison Conditions in Brazil Prison Conditions in Czechoslovakia Prison Conditions in Czechoslovakia: An Update Prison Conditions in Egypt Prison Conditions in India Prison Conditions in Indonesia Prison Conditions in Israel & the Israeli-Occupied West Bank & Gaza Strip Prison Conditions in Jamaica Prison Conditions in Mexico Prison Conditions in Poland Prison Conditions in Poland: An Update Prison Conditions in Puerto Rico Prison Conditions in Romania Prison Conditions in Spain Prison Conditions in Turkey Prison Conditions in the United Kingdom Prison Conditions in the United States Prison Conditions in the Soviet Union THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH GLOBAL REPORT ON PRISONS Human Rights Watch New York !!! Washington !!! Los Angeles !!! London Copyright 8 June 1993 by Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 93 78608 ISBN 1-56432-101-0 Cover design by Robert Kimzey. The Prison Project The Prison Project, established in 1988, cuts across the five regional divisions of Human Rights Watch to focus on a single issue: prison conditions worldwide. The Prison Project has investigated conditions for sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees and those held in police lockups. It examines prison conditions for all prisoners, not just political prisoners. The work of the Prison Project is guided by the Prison Advisory Committee, whose chairman is Herman Schwartz. Other members are Nan Aron, Vivian Berger, Haywood Burns, Alejandro Garro, William Hellerstein, Edward Koren, Sheldon Krantz, Benjamin Malcolm, Diane Orentlicher, Norman Rosenberg, David Rothman and Clarence Sundram. The director of the Project is Joanna Weschler. Anthony Levintow is the associate. For a catalog of publications, please call (212) 986-1980. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Human Rights Watch conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some sixty countries around the world. It addresses the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions. In internal wars it documents violations by both governments and rebel groups. Human Rights Watch defends freedom of thought and expression, due process of law and equal protection of the law; it documents and denounces murders, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, exile, censorship and other abuses of internationally recognized human rights. Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of Helsinki Watch by a group of publishers, lawyers and other activists and now maintains offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, London, Moscow, Belgrade, Bucharest and Hong Kong. Today, it includes Africa Watch, Americas Watch, Asia Watch, Helsinki Watch, Middle East Watch, the Fund for Free Expression and three collaborative projects, the Arms Project, Prison Project and Women's Rights Project. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. The executive committee includes Robert L. Bernstein, chair; Adrian W. DeWind, vice chair; Roland Algrant, Lisa Anderson, Peter D. Bell, Alice Brown, William Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Irene Diamond, Jonathan Fanton, Jack Greenberg, Alice H. Henkin, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Alexander MacGregor, Bruce Rabb, Orville Schell, Gary Sick, Malcolm Smith and Robert Wedgeworth. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, acting executive director; Holly J. Burkhalter, Washington director; Gara LaMarche, associate director; Ellen Lutz, California director; Susan Osnos, press director; Jemera Rone, counsel; Michal Longfelder, Development director; Allyson Collins, research associate; Joanna Weschler, Prison Project director; Kenneth Anderson, Arms Project director; and Dorothy Q. Thomas, Women's Rights Project director. The executive directors of the divisions of Human Rights Watch are Abdullahi An-Na'im, Africa Watch; Juan E. Méndez, Americas Watch; Sidney Jones, Asia Watch; Jeri Laber, Helsinki Watch; Andrew Whitley, Middle East Watch; and Gara LaMarche, the Fund for Free Expression. Addresses for Human Rights Watch 485 Fifth Avenue 1522 K Street, N.W., #910 New York, NY 10017-6104 Washington, DC 20005 Tel: (212) 972-8400 Tel: (202) 371-6592 Fax: (212) 972-0905 Fax: (202) 371-0124 10951 West Pico Blvd., #203 90 Borough High Street Los Angeles, CA 90064 London, UK SE1 1LL Tel: (310) 475-3070 Tel: (071) 378-8008 Fax: (310) 475-5613 Fax: (071) 378-8029 CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Introduction xv Summary of Findings and Recommendations xxi Conditions 1. Pre-Trial Detention 3 2. Physical Circumstances 9 3. Food 18 4. A Note on Medical Care 21 Inmates 5. Classification 27 6. Women 34 7. Master/Servant Relationships 41 8. Death Row 47 Daily Routine 9. Activities 53 10. Work 57 Rule and Misrule 11. Rules 65 12. Discipline 69 13. Beatings and Restraints 85 14. After a Riot 93 Isolation and Transparency 15. Contacts with Outsiders 101 16. Nongovernmental Monitors 109 17. The United Nations 115 The Numbers 125 Country Sections Brazil 131 China 137 Cuba 151 Egypt 161 India 167 Indonesia 173 Israel and the Occupied Territories 180 Jamaica 188 Mexico 193 Peru 198 Poland 208 Romania 212 Russia and Azerbaijan 217 South Africa 226 Spain 232 Turkey 237 United Kingdom 241 United States 247 Zaire 253 Appendices A. The Prison Project Advisory Committee 263 B. The International Covenant on Civil 264 and Political Rights (Articles 7 and 10) C. The Standard Minimum Rules for the 265 Treatment of Prisoners D. The Human Rights Watch Questionnaire 291 for Prison Visits Bibliography 299 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Joanna Weschler, the director of the Prison Project of Human Rights Watch is the principal author of this report, and Aryeh Neier, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, its editor. The introduction and preface were written by Herman Schwartz, the chair of the Prison Project's Advisory Committee; sections were also contributed by David Rosenberg, a lawyer and consultant with Human Rights Watch. The following staff members and consultants for Human Rights Watch wrote or researched the country chapters: Mary Jane Camejo, Holly Cartner, Allyson Collins, Erika Dailey, Rachel Denber, Timothy Gellat, Eric Goldstein, Patricia Gossman, Sidney Jones, Robin Kirk, Lydia Lobenthal, Ellen Lutz, Bronwen Manby, Anne Manuel, Juan Méndez, Aryeh Neier, Benjamin Penglase, Alexander Petrov, Luis Felipe Polo, David Rosenberg, Peter Rosenblum, Virginia Sherry, Mickey Spiegel, Joanna Weschler, and Lois Whitman. The authors were assisted and guided in their work by a group of advisers comprising staff and board members of Human Rights Watch and prison specialists. They were: Alice Brown, Eric Goldstein, William Hellerstein, Gara La Marche, Judge Morris Lasker, Kenneth Roth, David Rothman, Kenneth Schoen, Herman Schwartz, Andrew Whitley and Lois Whitman. Dr. Herbert F. Spirer and Dr. Marilyn Duecker of the American Statistical Association's Committee on Scientific Feedom and Human Rights helped with interpreting statistical data. The report was copyedited and designed by Robert Kimzey. Anthony Levintow provided production assistance. ix x PREFACE The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Prisons summarizes six years of work by the Prison Project and divisions of Human Rights Watch in investigating prison conditions in some twenty countries worldwide. The project was established in 1987 to focus attention on the circumstances in which all prisonersCnot only those accused of politically- motivated offensesCare incarcerated; and to put these problems on the world's human rights agenda. At the request of Human Rights Watch Executive Director Aryeh Neier, Professor Herman Schwartz of the American University in Washington, D.C., a pioneer in litigation securing rights for prisoners in the United States, undertook investigations of prison conditions in Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1987 and 1988 respectively. At the time, neither country permitted access to its prisons. Nevertheless, we were able to gather sufficient information to publish detailed, comprehensive and, we believe, reliable reports. In an attempt to extend our efforts to other parts of the world, Human Rights Watch assembled an advisory committee of prison experts whose names appear in an appendix to this report. Working with the staff of the regional divisions of Human Rights WatchCAfrica Watch, Americas Watch, Asia Watch, Helsinki Watch and Middle East WatchCthe project launched investigations of prisons and jails in selected countries around the world. An indispensable three- year grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation supported the work of the project. In 1990, Joanna Weschler of the staff of Human Rights Watch, succeeded Professor Schwartz as director of the Prison Project and Professor Schwartz became Chairman of the Advisory Committee. Ms. Weschler is the principal author of this report. Our investigations covered North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa and the six largest countries in the world, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and the United States. The other prison systems we investigated were those of Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Mexico, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and