Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Access to information and education – to have reasonable access to
news; access to library services as far as practicable; access to
education that will assist in rehabilitation or reintegration.
The denial of minimum entitlements can be made in the following
circumstances:
In the event of an emergency, security threat or threat to health/safety
of any person (s69(2));
When prisoners are subject to cell confinement or segregation orders
(s69(4)). While in cell confinement, prisoners may be denied the right:
to private visitors, to make telephone calls, to use other forms of
communication, and to access information or education;
When prisoners are detained in police cells. Entitlements – to exercise,
private visitors, mail, phone calls, other forms of communication, and
information / education – may be denied due to the facilities and
resources available (s69(3)).
In addition, a prisoner has no legitimate expectation of being provided with
similar accommodation conditions or programme opportunities throughout
their detention (r196). The conditions of detention are subject to institutional
discretion and change.
4.1 Accommodation
Law and policy framework
The Prison Service Operations Manual (PSOM, F.02) attends to Cell
Standards. This Policy sets out how cells must be maintained, and the items
that are allowable within individual cells.
As far as practicable, prisoners must be accommodated in individual cells.
Exceptions to this regulation (r66) can be made if the cell used is designed
and equipped to accommodate more than one person (r66(3)). Exceptions
can also be made if the manager believes that the sharing of cells will
facilitate prison management, or it is necessary to relieve a temporary
shortage of accommodation, or to assist in an emergency of any kind. A 2009
amendment to the regulations has provided for greater use of cell sharing in
circumstances where a single cell is not reasonably available and in
accordance with instructions issued by the Chief Executive (r66(2A)).
A Shared Accommodation Cell Risk Assessment (SACRA) process has been
developed by the Department to manage the placement of prisoners in shared
cells. Chief Executive‟s Instructions are also currently being drafted.
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