Abstract
This section emphasizes the large gap that still remains between the incorporation of rights and freedoms of persons deprived of liberty, and their enjoyment in practice. It gives a general overview of the terrible context in which persons deprived of liberty are in the world, and explains why a multidisciplinary analysis is essential to get a better understanding of this phenomenon.
Indeed, countless persons are detained in undignified conditions in clear violation of their human rights. Persons deprived of liberty are at high risk of violence, rape, and sexual assault, including acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Many detainees have a very poor health profile when entering prison, and often have acute or chronic health problems. Many others may become ill in the course of their time in prison as a consequence of the poor conditions of their detention. In many prisons there is a real danger of contracting infectious diseases of one form or another. Deplorable detention conditions are, moreover, not the result of isolated incidents but rather the consequence of systemic problems resulting from a malfunction of the prison system. The current conditions of detention centres reflect a maximum situation of concern and this calls for a critical and multidisciplinary reflection on the conditions in prisons around the world.
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Notes
- 1.
Dworkin (1978).
- 2.
Amnesty International 2019 here; CICR, Mujeres y Prision en Colombia: Desafios para la politica desde un enfoque de genero, 2018; European Parliament, Report on EU political relations with Latin America (2017/2027(INI)), Committee on Foreign Affairs, Plenary Sitting, Rapporteur: Javi López, 2014–2019, 20.7.2017, p. 13, para. 42; Human Rights Watch, World Report, 2020; IACHR, Report on Measures Aimed at Reducing the use of Pretrial Detention in the Americas, 2013; IACHR, Report on Measures Aimed at Reducing the use of Pretrial Detention in the Americas, 2017; IACHR Report 2017; IACHR, Personas Privadas de la Libertad en Nicaragua, Informe 2020 IACHR, Comunicado de Prensa. La CIDH urge a los Estados a garantizar la salud y la integridad de las personas privadas de libertad y sus familias frente a la pandemia del COVID-19, 31 de marzo de 2020; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Press briefing note on Americas, Prison conditions, 2020; UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of El Salvador, CCPR/C/SLV/CO/7, 9 May 2018, p. 7; UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Colombia, CCPR/C/COL/CO/7, 17 November 2016, p. 6; UN Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Colombia, CAT/C/COL/CO/5, 29 May 2015, pp. 5–6; UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the third periodic report of the Plurinational State of Bolivia CCPR/C/BOL/CO/3, 6 December 2013; UN Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Consideration of reports by States parties under article 19 of the Convention, Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, El Salvador, CAT/C/SLV/CO/2. 9 December 2009, pp. 5–6.
- 3.
The term ‘deprivation of liberty’ will be used in cases related to arrest, detention, or imprisonment. According to the 1998 UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention of Imprisonment (GA Res 43/173, 9 December 1998), ‘arrest’ is defined as ‘the act of apprehending a person for alleged commission of an offence or by the action of an authority’, whereas ‘detention’ and ‘imprisonment’ relate to the ‘condition’ of a person deprived of personal liberty, depending on whether or not the deprivation of liberty follows a conviction for an offence.
- 4.
Article 4(2) of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) defines the term ‘deprivation of liberty’ as ‘any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting which that person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other authority’. Article 4(1) adds, however, that persons may also be deprived of liberty at the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence of a public authority. All places where persons may be deprived of liberty are referred to as ‘places of detention’.
- 5.
McConnell/Smith (2018).
- 6.
According to Article 1 of the CRC, ‘a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years’.
- 7.
The author understands by solitary confinement ‘the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact’, and ‘Prolonged solitary confinement’ is such practice lasting anything more than 15 days. On the meaning of ‘meaningful human contact’, see in this volume Shalev and Naylor ‘Solitary Confinement and the Meaning of “Meaningful Human Contact”’.
- 8.
Bicknell’s contribution uses the terms ‘children’ and ‘juveniles’ interchangeably. They are understood as any person below the age of 18 years.
- 9.
International Corrections & Prisons Association (ICPA) (2020) Covid-19 outbreak in national/state correctional agencies https://icpa.org/covid-19-action/.
Reference
Dworkin R (1978) Taking rights seriously. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts
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Burbano Herrera, C., Haeck, Y. (2022). Tracing Vulnerability in Prison Populations Across Continents from a Multidisciplinary Perspective. In: Burbano Herrera, C., Haeck, Y. (eds) Human Rights Behind Bars. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 103. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11484-7_1
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