Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Written Evidence


Written evidence submitted by the International Centre for Prison Studies, King's College London

  1.  The International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) is part of the School of Law in King's College, University of London, and is recognised internationally as a leading academic centre for the study of penal systems and prison reform issues. In addition to undertaking a series of international projects on prison reform and prison management in a number of countries, it has carried out research for the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. In the UK it has undertaken research at the request of the Cabinet Office, the Prison Service of England and Wales and HM Inspectorate of Prisons for England and Wales, among others. ICPS has considerable experience of comparing prison systems within a human rights context. It has worked in most regions of the world, often under the auspices of the United Nations, the Council of Europe or OSCE. In early 2004 it completed a study of conditions of detention in the 25 European Union countries on behalf of the European Parliament. Its Director is an expert adviser to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE and a number of Council of Europe committees, including its Committee for the Prevention of Torture. He is also a member of the Foreign Secretary's expert panel against torture. The Centre's Senior Research Fellow, Baroness Vivien Stern, is a member of the Foreign Secretary's expert panel against the death penalty.

  2.  ICPS welcomes the decision by the Foreign Affairs Committee to hold an inquiry into the FCO's Annual Report on Human Rights 2004 and the opportunity this provides to give evidence to the Committee. ICPS will restrict its evidence to the involvement which it has with the FCO through its work on international prison reform, some of which is referred to directly in the Annual Report.

  3.  A significant proportion of the international work undertaken by ICPS is sponsored by the FCO, usually through what is now known as the Global Opportunities Fund. There is an often-quoted aphorism that one can judge the values of a society by examining its prisons and those who are in them. Prison reform is often high on the agenda in countries which are moving from totalitarian regimes and are in transition towards democracy. There can be many reasons for this. It may be that a government regards prison reform as a way of demonstrating its commitment to human rights, good governance and the rule of law. It may be that there is a champion of reform within the relevant Ministry, perhaps a person who was himself a prisoner under a previous regime. It may be that there is a specific impetus for reform, such as public concern about the infectious diseases which flourish in the prison setting and which released prisoners bring back into the community. It may be a public outcry following a violent riot or escape. Whatever the trigger, it is often important for a third party to be able to move quickly when there is a request for assistance to begin a programme of reform. In this regard, there is no doubt that the FCO, through its Human Rights Policy Department and many of its embassies and high commissions, has become a key international player in prison reform.

  4.  In 2002 the FCO sponsored ICPS to produce and publish A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management: Handbook for prison staff. This handbook, which has a foreword by the Foreign Secretary, has met an identifiable need among intergovernmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations, national governments, prison administrations and prison reformers for detailed information about the international human rights standards relating to imprisonment and how they should be applied in the daily management of prisons. In the course of 2003 and 2004 the FCO has helped ICPS to develop a programme to ensure that the handbook became widely known and used around the world. To date it has been translated into ten languages and it is now widely used by field offices of the UNHCHR and UNODC, by the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the ICRC and other organisations. Launches and seminars have been held in a number of countries with the support of British Embassies and High Commissions. These have invariably been in response to requests from host governments. The Brazilian Ministry of Justice arranged for 40,000 copies to be printed in Portuguese and has issued them to every member of staff. This was particularly significant, given the appalling conditions and levels of violence in many Brazilian prisons. Similar initiatives have taken place in countries as far apart as the Republic of Korea, Colombia, Nigeria, Japan and Kazakhstan. The Arabic version has been used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This handbook, which would not have been published without the support from the FCO, is becoming a standard text in countries which see the need for prison reform within a human rights context.

  5.  In the course of 2004 the FCO sponsored penal reform work undertaken by ICPS in Brazil, Chile, Libya, Russia, St Helena and Sudan.

  6.  Prison reform can be a specialised interest and does not often attract a high political profile. However, it is a key feature of human rights work, not least because there are now over none million men, women and children in prisons around the world. They come frequently from the most marginalised, impoverished and vulnerable groups in society. The conditions in which they are held often constitute inhuman and degrading treatment and many of them suffer from ill health, even to the extent of dying because of the treatment which they receive. The staff who work in prisons are very often poorly paid, badly trained and have little respect in society, despite the stressful and sometimes dangerous work which they carry out.

  7.  The support of the FCO for penal reform activities, through its support for institutions such as ICPS as well as its contribution on these matters to intergovernmental bodies, is an important element of the international work of the UK government in support of human rights, good governance and access to justice.

Professor Andrew Coyle CMG

Director

International Centre for Prison Studies

King's College London

December 2004


 
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