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Against Prisons: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen
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=== Prisons in Poor Countries === | === Prisons in Poor Countries === | ||
In poor countries the same is true, but on a different scale. This is due to insufficient economic resources and the state‘s inability or unwillingness to secure even minimum standards of prison conditions. Because of the low salaries of prison employees, corruption is endemic. As a prisoner in a poor country, you will have a high likelihood of suffering from infectious diseases, from the lack of hygiene, from inadequate medical and psychological assistance, from unhealthy diets, and - most importantly - from lack of respect by undertrained and often incompetent, but bossy guards and semi-professionals. There are not many published reports detailling the psison conditions in poor countries. As a matter of fact, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture | In poor countries the same is true, but on a different scale. This is due to insufficient economic resources and the state‘s inability or unwillingness to secure even minimum standards of prison conditions. Because of the low salaries of prison employees, corruption is endemic. As a prisoner in a poor country, you will have a high likelihood of suffering from infectious diseases, from the lack of hygiene, from inadequate medical and psychological assistance, from unhealthy diets, and - most importantly - from lack of respect by undertrained and often incompetent, but bossy guards and semi-professionals. There are not many published reports detailling the psison conditions in poor countries. As a matter of fact, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has visited the prisons of many poorer countries, but only few of them has agreed to the publication of the reports. Consider the following report from a Latin American country (ranked 106 on Pasquali's list): | ||
Similar reports are available for some of the poorer countries in Latin America. Here is an example for a country ranked 106 on Pasquali's list: | |||
:55. Overcrowding remains a cause of concern. Tacumbú has capacity for approximately 1,200 inmates but houses far more than double that number. The Subcommittee is aware that the Government has made an effort to increase the number of beds in Tacumbú Prison, but would point out that those efforts will not be sufficient, since the prison structure is inadequate. ... The Subcommittee is of the view that Tacumbú National Prison should be closed as soon as possible and requests confirmation from the State party of the above-mentioned announcement, together with information on the timetable for its closure... | |||
:57. According to statements made to the Subcommittee, torture and ill-treatment have continued to be commonplace and have been the usual means employed by prison guards to impose their authority... | |||
:59. Although prison authorities report having removed corrupt prison staff from their posts, inmates and other credible sources have told the Subcommittee, in great detail, how corruption continues to affect each and every area of prison life. “Fees” continue to be charged for the different services (such as access to a doctor, to a given block or wing, etc.), with some modifications. “If anything has changed”, some inmates said, “it is that now you have to pay more for certain things.” Whereas, slightly over a year ago, inmates had to pay the guards 5,000 guaraníes in order to be allowed to carry a knife, the sum had risen to 50,000 guaraníes by September 2010. The Subcommittee has also been informed of other illegal fees now being charged by the guards (e.g., a fee of 2,000 guaraníes for allowing an inmate’s visitor to sit on a chair or to return a mobile phone to a visitor who was required to leave the phone at the prison entry hall)... | |||
:61. The Subcommittee is extremely concerned by information received from credible sources which indicates that corruption is not confined to a given prison or operational level. On the contrary, it seems to exist in almost all of the country’s prisons and to be very well coordinated and organized. The Subcommittee has repeatedly been apprised of consistent allegations that certain political circles are profiting from this nationwide form of organized corruption. | |||
(SPT Report on the follow-up visit to the Republic of Paraguay from 13 to 15 September 2010). | |||
Not unsimilar is one of the few SPT reports published for African countries (for a country ranked 51st on Pasquali's list): | |||
: 15. Le SPT constate qu’en dépit de quelques mesures , la torture et les mauvais traitements demeurent répandus, favorisés principalement par un certain nombre de problèmes structurels et systémiques préoccupants, liés: | : 15. Le SPT constate qu’en dépit de quelques mesures , la torture et les mauvais traitements demeurent répandus, favorisés principalement par un certain nombre de problèmes structurels et systémiques préoccupants, liés: | ||
:- Au faible respect des garanties édictées par la Constitution, les traités internationaux, les lois et règlements applicables au Gabon ;... | :- Au faible respect des garanties édictées par la Constitution, les traités internationaux, les lois et règlements applicables au Gabon ;... | ||
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:The situation is summed up by the SPT the the words that "the situation of of the imprisoned persons is "extrémement préoccupant" (SPT Rapport sur la visite au Gabon, 2014). | :The situation is summed up by the SPT the the words that "the situation of of the imprisoned persons is "extrémement préoccupant" (SPT Rapport sur la visite au Gabon, 2014). | ||
The situation is not so different in some of the poorer countries in Europe. Consider the report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) (on a country ranked 61 by Pasquali): | |||
:Regarding the situation in prisons, numerous credible allegations consistent with physical ill-treatment (punches, including with reinforced gloves, kicks with the knee and feet and blows with a truncheon) were received by the delegation. They were mainly inflicted on prisoners under a maximum security regime (“RMS”) and in the closed regime units of Arad and Oradea prisons by members of the intervention group (wearing balaclavas or masks). Medical evidence compatible with the allegations made was found in a certain number of prisoners' medical files in these two establishments. As regards material conditions in prisons, the report notes an overall high-level of overcrowding, with barely 2m² of living space per person in Târgşor Women’s Prison; these conditions were further aggravated by the fact that prisoners generally spent 20 to 22 hours a day in their cells. Furthermore, the report contains recommendations to reinforce the numbers of prison and health-care staff in the establishments visited and to offer work and/or socio-educational activities to prisoners under RMS and closed regimes. | :Regarding the situation in prisons, numerous credible allegations consistent with physical ill-treatment (punches, including with reinforced gloves, kicks with the knee and feet and blows with a truncheon) were received by the delegation. They were mainly inflicted on prisoners under a maximum security regime (“RMS”) and in the closed regime units of Arad and Oradea prisons by members of the intervention group (wearing balaclavas or masks). Medical evidence compatible with the allegations made was found in a certain number of prisoners' medical files in these two establishments. As regards material conditions in prisons, the report notes an overall high-level of overcrowding, with barely 2m² of living space per person in Târgşor Women’s Prison; these conditions were further aggravated by the fact that prisoners generally spent 20 to 22 hours a day in their cells. Furthermore, the report contains recommendations to reinforce the numbers of prison and health-care staff in the establishments visited and to offer work and/or socio-educational activities to prisoners under RMS and closed regimes. | ||
(CPT News Flash on the visit to Romania 2014, for a detailled report see the french version). | (CPT News Flash on the visit to Romania 2014, for a detailled report see the french version). | ||
In 2016, because of the poor conditions in Romanian local prisons, the ECHR took the unusual step of according almost 100,000 euros in compensation to 18 (ex-) convicts - instead of the much lower symbolic sums that it normally accords to successful plaintiffs. | |||
In 2016, because of the poor conditions in Romanian local prisons, the ECHR took the unusual step of according almost 100,000 euros in compensation to 18 (ex-) convicts - instead of the much lower symbolic sums that it normally accords to successful plaintiffs. Relatively speaking, | |||
Relatively speaking, European countries are, however, far better off than their African or Latin American counterparts. For one thing, most European prisoners may take their cases before the ECHR whose jurisdiction only covers the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. A second important difference is that European countries can count on substantial finacial aid from the European Union.. | |||
=== A Violent System === | === A Violent System === | ||