Offenders' rights

UNESCO Courier, June, 1998 by Monika Platek

Incarcerated persons are still commonly viewed simply as prisoners, and the deprivation of their freedom as merely the prelude to a series of other ordeals. However, the quite different idea that imprisonment is harsh enough retribution in itself is slowly and spasmodically gaining ground in the law and public opinion. This shift in attitude is due to the impact on national legislation of international regulations covering the rights of minors and adults subject to detention or imprisonment, the spread of democracy in many countries and, especially, the growing acceptance of the concept of human rights.

The word "rights" can be used only when clear procedures allowing their enjoyment exist and unbiased, public and competent bodies - in most countries, the courts - guarantee their proper application.

The general state of a country's prison system is a yardstick of its level of civilization. Acknowledging that prisoners are still members of society, allowing them to keep most of the rights enjoyed by free citizens and granting them rights specific to their incarcerated status are expressions of basic tenets of humanitarianism and social solidarity. Because this approach defends human dignity, it helps to prevent crime and improve public safety. Low self-esteem or lack of self-respect often lead a person to be indifferent to the rights or dignity of others, and constitute one cause of deviant and criminal behaviour. The idea of prisoners' rights is the basic premise of any penal policy claiming to be rational, preventive and concerned with public safety and citizens' quality of life.

The large number of international regulations, resolutions and conventions regarding prisoners' rights shows how central this issue is and also how far the actual situation and legal status of prisoners still fall short of theoretical international standards. In spite of many efforts to curb, if not end, torture, physical abuse and humiliating treatment, the reality inside prison walls remains grim. Only international acceptance of prisoners' rights and their recognition on the local level can bring to prison systems the real accountability which is the essential safeguard of respect for prisoners' dignity.

Some prisoners have been detained because they have committed acts of cruelty, others merely because of their opinions, background, nationality, religion or even skin colour. Among them are children, young persons, the elderly and people with serious illnesses. Others are paying with their freedom for miscarriages of justice and other people's thirst for power and political ambitions. These inmates come from many walks of life. But a closer look at the prison population as a whole reveals that most detainees are penniless, and lack education or support; they are outcasts regarded as useless by the rest of society. This is one reason why the application of prisoners' rights still faces so many obstacles.

For many years, the United Nations system (see Fact file, page 38) and numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations have been working to turn the situation round through a series of legal instruments including the European Penitentiary Rules, the American Convention of Human Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights. Respect for human dignity is a basic right of any prisoner, and is a more efficient pillar of the law than humiliation and threats.

RELATED ARTICLE: Women inmates with their children

"On visiting day at the men's prison, you can see lines of women who have sometimes been waiting to get in since the night before. You don't see that at the women's prisons. The women are left more alone." (Bailiff at the San Martin courthouse)

In Argentina, women who have been charged with an offence or who are serving time can keep their children with them until the age of two. Adriana Lestido spent a year photographing mothers with their children at Los Hornos prison n [degrees] 8 in La Plata.

MONIKA PLATEK, of Poland, is professor of criminology at Warsaw University's Institute of Penal Law.