NCJ Number
219526
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 264-275
Date Published
July 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article explores how far a rights-based culture has developed in prisons in England and Wales since the recommendations of the Woolf Report in 1991, which promoted the principles of justice and fairness in prison practices and policies.
Abstract
The main argument is that while some progress has been made toward the recommendations outlined in the 1991 Woolf Report, this progress has occurred through the courts and through pressure from monitoring agencies. The author maintains that a rights-based prison culture needs a significant reduction in prison numbers as well as a different notion of what prison should be about. Government policy, it is argued, has frequently resisted rather than promoted the development of a rights-based culture in prisons in England and Wales. In making this argument, the author considers the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the UK Human Rights Act. While the ECHR and the UK Human Rights Act sought to combat cruel and unusual punishments in prison, in reality, prisoner restrictions and punishments can frequently be justified as legitimate security measures or as the minimum necessary restriction. Moreover, prison rules and court orders are often vague, discretionary, and open to interpretation. Thus, the theoretical right of prisoners to challenge their treatment in court remains limited in practice. Despite these limitations, there is no doubt that during the last decade, physical conditions in prisons have improved, with some exceptions, and that specific prisoner rights have been won in the courts. However, while the monitoring framework and involvement of organizations provides some safeguards to prison treatment, they lack any real statutory power. References