Protecting Prisoners

• Author: Susan Easton
• Published date: 01 December 2013
• Date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0032885513501025
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Prison Journal

93(4) 475 –492

© 2013 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885513501025

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Article

Protecting Prisoners: The

Impact of International

Human Rights Law

on the Treatment of

Prisoners in the United

Kingdom

Susan Easton1

Abstract

This article considers the impact of international human rights law and

standards on the protection of prisoners in the UK, with specific reference

to the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into UK law

by the Human Rights Act 1998. Although prisoners do benefit from the

protection of the Convention within prison, the scope of these rights will

be limited by the needs of the prison administration as well as the political

climate and the public’s attitude toward prisoners. The conflicts between

these variables are addressed. Respect for prisoners’ rights, it is argued, may

contribute to raised prison standards and to good order in prison.

Keywords

prisoner human rights, Human Rights Act 1998, United Kingdom

Introduction

This article assesses the impact of prisoners’ rights litigation on the experi-

ence of imprisonment in the UK in the light of the Human Rights Act 1998

1Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK

Corresponding Author:

Susan Easton, Brunel Law School, Brunel University, Cleveland Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex

UB8 3PH, UK.

Email: Susan.easton@brunel.ac.uk

501025TPJ93410.1177/0032885513501025The Prison JournalEaston

research-article2013

476 The Prison Journal 93(4)

(HRA). Have the advances made been significant, or have they been limited

by the pressures of penal expansion, the increase in the prison population,

and by the punitiveness of governments and the public? In the UK, the prison

population has remained high, although it has fallen slightly in the last year.

On 16th August 2013 it was 84,345, compared to 86,801 on August 17th

2012. The latest projections for the prison population for 2018 suggest the

highest figure will be 90,900 and the lowest 80,300 and the lowest (Ministry

of Justice, 2012).

Sources of European Penal Law

The experience of prisoners in Europe’s prisons has been shaped by interna-

tional law and international human rights standards, including the UN

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights (ICCPR), the findings of the European Committee on the

Prevention of Torture (CPT) and, most importantly, the European Convention

on Human Rights. The prohibition on torture, and on cruel, inhuman or

degrading treatment found in Article 7 of the ICCPR protects the prisoner

while Article 10 stipulates that detainees should be treated with humanity and

respect for the inherent dignity of the human person and that the penal system

should aim at the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners.

The European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and

Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted by the Committee of

Ministers of the Council of Europe in 1987 and came into force in 1989. This

Convention sets limits on what is acceptable within prison regimes and aims

to protect detainees from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The

Committee (CPT), set up under the Convention, conducts visits and pub-

lishes standards for the appropriate treatment of those in detention. Inspections

cover police stations, psychiatric hospitals, and immigration centers as well

as prisons. It publishes reports on states following its periodic visits, as well

as annual reports; visits are usually made every 4 years or more frequently if

there are particular concerns. Its Code of Standards for detention covers a

wide range of issues, including health care. The CPT is intended to improve

standards of detention, but the Committee does not have a judicial function in

contrast to the European Court of Human Rights, and its recommendations

are not binding on states (but if they are implemented they potentially affect

a large number of prisoners). Issues raised by the CPT have included the

psychological impact of imprisonment and the use of torture and inhuman

and degrading treatment in Turkish police stations and Bulgarian prisons.

European prisoners can bring complaints on their treatment under the

ICCPR or the UN Convention against Torture, but, in practice, they are much