Rules for Prisons: A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management

Article by Kathleen Pequeño

Laws and rules are created to stop people from doing things that interfere with the rights of others. When we hear about laws that stop other people from doing something we disagree with, we are usually in support. But most of us don’t exactly clamor for new rules to stop ourselves from doing things we might do. True accountability often means submitting to laws and rules that not only restrict someone else, but also restrict us. Most people and institutions don’t like to submit to outside authority, and this includes prison systems. But a variety of both national and international laws and standards exist, and we have to hold prison systems accountable to them.

Standards for prisons and other institutions recognize that once a group of people is given authority, they may be likely to harm other people who are subject to that authority. There are a number of international agreements that make up a set of rules and standards for people who run prisons. They include:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
• Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination

And that’s only the start of the list. There are at least thirty relevant documents, some of which the U.S. government has not signed. The International Centre for Prison Studies (in the United Kingdom) has combed through these documents and assembled a handy book called A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management. It’s a handbook that offers insight into a set of rules and standards for how prisons can operate to protect public safety and respect the human rights of people who are confined in prison, people who work there, and the broader community. Let’s look at a couple excerpts to see what this guide has to say about what is “good prison management.”

Prisoners are Human Beings (page 31)

People who are detained or imprisoned do not cease to be human beings, no matter how serious the crime of which they have been accused or convicted. The court of law or other judicial agency that dealt with their case decreed that they should be deprived of their liberty, not that they should forfeit their humanity.

Prison staff should never lose sight of the fact that prisoners are human beings. They must continually resist the temptation to regard the prisoner merely as a number rather than as a whole person. Nor do prison staff have any right to inflict additional punishments on prisoners by treating them as lesser human beings who have forfeited the right to be respected because of what they have done or are accused of having done. Ill-treatment of prisoners is always legally wrong. In addition, such behaviour lessens the very humanity of the member of staff who acts in such a way.

Operating Secure, Safe and Orderly Prisons (page 59)

The importance of achieving and maintaining that balance between security, control and justice must be understood by all prison managers. It is quite wrong to suggest that treating prisoners with humanity and fairness will lead to a reduction in security or control. On the contrary, the objective of preventing escapes and ensuring control can best be achieved within a well ordered environment:

• which is safe for prisoners and staff
• in which all members of the prison community perceive that they are being treated with fairness and justice
• in which prisoners have the opportunity to participate in constructive activities and to prepare themselves for release.
  

The professional prison manager has to strive constantly to ensure that this balance is maintained.

Family Contact: The Right to Family Life (page 95)

People who are sent to prison lose the right to free movement but retain other rights as human beings. One of the most important of these is the right to contact with their families. As well as being the right for the prisoner, it is equally a right for family members who are not in prison. They retain the right of contact with their father or mother, son or daughter, brother or sister who has been sent to prison. Prison administrators have a responsibility to ensure that these relationships can be maintained and developed. Provision for all levels of communication with immediate family members should be based on this principle. It follows that the loss or restriction of family visits should not be used as a punishment under any circumstances.

Page 96

It should never be forgotten that visits, especially with close family members, are not to be regarded as privileges but rather as a basic human right.

An increasing number of prison systems in the U.S. are promoting an accountability model for prisoners, but few are signing up to be accountable themselves. If we want our prison systems to be held accountable as well, it’s up to us to push our government and our prison systems to comply with the international standards that the U.S. government has already signed on to. We’re still a ways off from this. But these documents, which have been ratified and implemented by countries across the world, show a growing international consensus on the idea that prisons are still subject to the law, and that safeguarding the human rights of prisoners is essential, not optional.

You can read the entire handbook on the web (in a printable version that requires Acrobat Reader software) at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/ icps/human_rights_prison_management.pdf

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2006 Issue of Justice Matters.