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