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Current trends and practices in the use of imprisonment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2018

Andrew Coyle ,
Catherine Heard  and
Helen Fair
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Abstract

This article charts the rapid rise in the use of imprisonment in recent decades before considering some of the most pressing issues of concern in the use of imprisonment today. First among these is prison overcrowding, which continues to blight the record of many countries in their treatment of prisoners. To illustrate the potentially dire consequences of overcrowding – a problem common to many other countries and regions – an account is given of a recent visit to a prison in El Salvador. The article then provides an overview of the relevant regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, referring also to the role of judicial bodies in ensuring implementation.

Keywords

prisonovercrowdingconditions of detentionprison populationswomen prisonersuse of imprisonmentcriminal justice policy
Type
Overview of the humanitarian challenge
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 98 , Issue 903: Detention: Addressing the human cost , December 2016 , pp. 761 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2018 

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References

1 Available at: www.prisonstudies.org (unless otherwise stated, all internet references were accessed in July 2017). The World Prison Brief was established by Roy Walmsley and launched by the International Centre for Prison Studies in September 2000. Since November 2014, the Brief has been hosted by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London. Prison statistics derive largely from national prison administrations or responsible ministries.

2 This article draws from comparative data compiled for the book Imprisonment Worldwide, which was published in June 2016 using data accessed from the World Prison Brief in November 2015. Unless otherwise stated, this article uses the same data. See Coyle, Andrew, Fair, Helen, Jacobson, Jessica and Walmsley, Roy, Imprisonment Worldwide: The Current Situation and an Alternative Future, Policy Press, Bristol, 2016 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Data on the World Prison Brief are updated monthly, and we would encourage readers to check the site for the most recent information available. See “World Prison Brief Data”, available at: www.prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief-data.

3 It should be noted, however, that small numbers of non-criminal justice detainees are counted in prison statistics in some jurisdictions.

4 China's system of “Re-education Through Labour”, which saw large numbers of offenders administratively detained, was formally abolished in December 2013. However, it is widely reported that various forms of (non-prison) detention of offenders remain in place – for example, in Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2016/17: The State of the World's Human Rights, London, 2017, p. 119 Google Scholar; UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of China, Geneva, 2016, available at: http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhslEE2YuVt8GA5WKG3GEX%2BZEXqjnsVnWP%2BkQ6f9cmzWcEPJYdFWEXvIFmDTE3WtKbIKZXAKr5OVTwnh86Q4GNZXSmrqMf55xyaMPMcFusW3o2; US State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau), Washington, DC, 2017 Google Scholar, available at: www.state.gov/documents/organization/265540.pdf.”

5 Administrative detention is usually understood to mean detention “ordered by the executive” in which “the power of the decision rests solely with the administrative or ministerial authority, even if a remedy a posteriori (after the event) does exist in the courts against such a decision”. Louis Joinet, Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Fight against Discriminatory Measures and Protection of Minorities, Report on the Practice of Administrative Detention, UN Doc. E/CN.4/sub.2/1989/27, 1989, cited in Open Society Justice Initiative, Presumption of Guilt: The Global Overuse of Pretrial Detention, Open Society Foundations, New York, 2014, p. 13 Google Scholar, available at: www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/presumption-guilt-global-overuse-pretrial-detention.

6 Walmsley, Roy, World Prison Population List, 11th ed., Institute for Criminal Policy Research, London, 2016, p. 14 Google Scholar.

7 The prison population rates calculated for the World Prison Brief – and reported in this article – are based on estimated national populations as of the date to which the latest prison population figures refer.

8 Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2015/16: The State of the World's Human Rights, London, 2016, p. 185 Google Scholar.

9 Indian National Crime Records Bureau, Prison Statistics India 2000 and Prison Statistics India 2015, New Delhi, 2002 and 2016Google Scholar.

10 Increasingly punitive sentencing of drug offences, and particularly lower-level drug offences, is widely seen as a major driver of women's imprisonment. See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Handbook on Women and Imprisonment, 2nd ed., Vienna, 2014 Google Scholar; Penal Reform International, Penal Reform International 1989–2014: 25 Years of Promoting Fair and Effective Criminal Justice Worldwide, London, 2015 Google Scholar.

11 R. Walmsley, above note 6, p. 15.

12 “Brazil's Supreme Court to Discuss Drug Decriminalization”, Telesur, 19 June 2015.

13 US State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: Brazil, Washington, DC, 2017 Google Scholar. Further discussion on the overuse of imprisonment in Brazil and in Latin America more widely can be found in Paul Hathazy and Markus-Michael Müller's contribution to this issue of the Review.

14 Penal Reform International, above note 10.

15 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia, 2015, Canberra, 2015 Google Scholar.

16 Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Living Space per Prisoner in Prison Establishments: CPT Standards, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2015, p. 1 Google Scholar.

17 ICRC, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Habitat in Prisons: Supplementary Guidance, Geneva, 2012, p. 33 Google Scholar.

18 World Prison Brief, “Highest to Lowest – Occupancy Level (Based on Official Capacity)”, available at: www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/occupancy-level?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All.

19 Ibid .

20 Figures from: www.dgcp.gob.sv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=123.

21 See Wolf, Sonja, “Central American Street Gangs: Their Role in Communities and Prisons”, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, No. 96, April 2014 Google Scholar; Van der Borgh, Chris and Savenije, Wim, “De-securitising and Re-securitising Gang Policies: The Funes Government and Gangs in El Salvador”, Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2015 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 See, for example: https://sustainablesecurity.org/2011/03/01/mano-dura-gang-suppression-in-el-salvador/.

23 United Nations Economic and Social Council, Question of the Human Rights of All Persons Subjected to Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, in Particular: Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: Report Of The Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/1995/34, 12 January 1995.

24 Ayala, Gilberto, Garay, Julio, Aragon, Miguel, Decroo, Tom and Zachariah, Rony, “Trends in Tuberculosis Notification and Treatment Outcomes in Prisons: A Country-Wide Assessment in El Salvador from 2009–2014”, Pan American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2016 Google ScholarPubMed; Ministerio de Salud, Situación epidemiológica de la tuberculosis en El Salvador, 2015, available at: www.salud.gob.sv/archivos/pdf/TUBERCULOSIS_DOC/Vigilancia_epidemiologica/Situacion_epidemiologica_de_la_tuberculosis_en_el_salvador_2015.pdf; Ministerio de Salud, Plan estratégico nacional multisectorial para el control de la tuberculosis en El Salvador, 2016–2020, April 2015, available at: www.salud.gob.sv/archivos/pdf/TUBERCULOSIS_DOC/Planes_Estrategicos/plan_estrategico_nacional_multisectorial_para_control_de_la_tb_en_el_salvador_2016_2020.pdf.

25 See, for example: www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/18/grisly-gang-massacres-sweep-brazils-prisons-100-inmates-killed-in-recent-weeks/.

26 See, for example: www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/prisoners-left-die-concentration-camp-9016760.

27 See, for example: www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/honduras-prisons-put-inmates-at-risk-fuel-gang-violence-oas.

28 See, for example: www.iol.co.za/capetimes/pollsmoor-prison-conditions-declared-unconstitutional-2095712.

29 See, for example: http://allafrica.com/stories/201609010902.html.

30 See, for example: www.news24.com/Africa/News/hunger-reduces-prisoners-to-living-skeletons-in-malawi-20160912.

31 Available at: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int.

32 House of Commons Justice Committee, “Oral Evidence: Prison Reform”, HC 548, 31 January 2017, available at: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/justice-committee/prison-reform/oral/46581.html.

33 Australian Bureau of Statistics, above note 16.

34 Ibid.

35 OHCHR, “Statement at the Conclusion of Its Visit to New Zealand (24 March–7 April 2014) by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention”, available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14563&LangID=E.

36 Statistics Canada, “Adult Correctional Statistics in Canada, 2013/2014”, available at: www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2015001/article/14163-eng.htm.

37 US Department of Justice, “Prisoners in 2014”, available at: www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf.

38 Equality and Human Rights Commission, How Fair is Britain? Equality, Human Rights and Good Relations in 2010, London, 2010 Google Scholar.

39 World Prison Brief, “Highest to Lowest – Foreign Prisoners (Percentage of Prison Population)”, available at: www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/foreign-prisoners?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All (accessed in February 2017).

40 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 596 UNTS 561, 24 April 1963 (entered into force 19 March 1967), Art. 36.

41 See, for example, UNODC, Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons, New York, 2016 Google Scholar; International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalisation and De-radicalisation in 15 Countries, London, 2010 Google Scholar; Veldhuis, Tinka, Prisoner Radicalization and Terrorism Detention Policy: Institutionalized Fear or Evidence-Based Policy-Making?, Routledge, London, 2016 Google Scholar.

42 Shalev, Sharon, A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, 2008 Google Scholar, available at: http://solitaryconfinement.org/uploads/sourcebook_web.pdf.

43 See, for example, “Solitary Confinement Should Be Banned in Most Cases, UN Expert Says”, UN News Centre, 18 October 2011, available at: www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40097#.WkYUJnko-M8; “Liberal Government to Impose 15-Day Limits on Solitary Confinement”, Globe and Mail, 19 June 2017, available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/liberal-government-to-impose-15-day-limits-on-solitary-confinement/article35369982/.

44 Available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx.

45 Available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx.

46 Available at: www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/GA-RESOLUTION/E_ebook.pdf.

47 Available at: www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Bangkok_Rules_ENG_22032015.pdf.

48 Available at: https://rm.coe.int/european-prison-rules-978-92-871-5982-3/16806ab9ae.

49 Available at: www.coe.int/mk/web/cpt/home.

50 See: www.achpr.org/mechanisms/prisons-and-conditions-of-detention/.

51 Available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCAT.aspx.

52 A. Coyle et al, above note 2.

53 Coyle, Andrew, A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management: Handbook for Prison Staff, 2nd ed., International Centre for Prison Studies, 2009 Google Scholar, available at: www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/handbook_2nd_ed_eng_8.pdf.

54 UNODC, “Why Promote Prison Reform?”, available at: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/prison-reform-and-alternatives-to-imprisonment.html.

55 See, for example, Aizer, Anna and Doyle, Joseph J. Jr, Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly-Assigned Judges, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2013 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, The State of Crime and Criminal Justice Worldwide, 2015.

57 See, for example, Wacquant, Loïc, Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 2009 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Wacquant argues that America's neoliberal policies have replaced poor relief programmes, workhouses and debtors’ prisons with modern variants – prison, probation and surveillance – which work to “regulate” (or socially exclude) populations that have become economically redundant.

58 As discussed in Byrne, James M., Pattavina, April and Taxman, Faye S., “International Trends in Prison Upsizing and Downsizing: In Search of Evidence of a Global Rehabilitation Revolution”, Victims and Offenders: An International Journal of Evidence-Based Research, Policy, and Practice, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2015 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

59 Coyle, Andrew, “Prisons in Context”, in Jewkes, Yvonne, Crewe, Ben and Bennett, Jamie (eds), Handbook on Prisons, 2nd ed., Routledge, New York, 2016 Google Scholar.

60 Mauer reviews research literature on this topic, much of which has emerged from the United States in response to that country's surge in incarceration rates over recent decades. See Marc Mauer, “Incarceration Rates in an International Perspective”, Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Criminology, 2017, available at: http://criminology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-233?rskey=fyAxAq&result=1.