The work of the Council of Europe (CoE) has been playing a significant role for the reform of prison services and the improvement of prison conditions in the region.

The Council of Europe works in different fronts in the field of prison services. It has developed binding instruments that can be applicable to the treatment and conditions in prisons - the most important being the (European) Convention on Fundamental Human Rights (and its Court)-, a system of inspections and visits to prisons undertaken by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and a significant number of non-binding instruments such as recommendations from the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers. In addition, the Council of Europe has engaged in projects and programmes of technical assistance to member countries in the area of prison services.

The European Convention for Human Rights does not contain any provisions specifically dealing with prisoners’ rights. Because imprisonment does not automatically limit all of a person’s rights, the Convention’s provisions are still applicable to prisoners.

The prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment (article 3 European Convention on Human Rights) is of important application within the prison context. This prohibition has been interpreted also to be applicable in relation to material conditions and health care. The European Court of Human Rights has analysed many cases where poor material conditions and lack of medical care, including psychological treatment, were alleged to violate the prohibited treatment in terms of article 3. Examples are Kudla v. Poland, 2000; peers v. Greece, 2001 and Poltoratskiy v. Ukraine, 2003.

The Court has also considered numerous cases involving the right to privacy as guaranteed by article 8 in relation to cases of censorship of prisoners’ correspondence (see Labita v. Italy, 2000; Peers v. Greece, 2001 and Valasinas v. Lithuania, 2001).

To a certain extent the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights has resulted in the creation of a set of prisoners’ rights.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) is an important mechanism for the prevention of torture. Its role is complementary to the work of the European Court of Human Rights as the Court has a remedial role while the CPT has a preventive one. The work of the CPT is based on a system of visits to places of detention, including prisons. (see 11.7 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture).

The CPT was established by the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and works in terms of its rules of procedure.

Similar to the work of the United Nations, many standards are set by non-binding instruments. The main non-binding instrument in the area of prison services is the European Prison Rules of 1987 (Recommendation No. 87(3)). The European Prison Rules is a far-reaching document in that it provides for rules and guidelines in the main areas of prison service. It provides for basic rules for the management and treatment of prisoners, including material conditions (food, clothing and personal hygiene), access to health care, disciplinary proceedings and prison activities (educational, vocational training, etc). It follows the line developed by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules but it provides additional protection in some aspects.

There are other Council of Europe recommendations that are applicable to prison services and treatment of prisoners. Most of them further develop areas which are included in the European Prison Rules; others developed as a response to recent challenges faced by European prison services. The list below reflects important recommendations applicable to prison services:

• Recommendation (80) 11 concerning Custody Pending Trial (1980)
• Recommendation No. (82) 17 concerning Custody and Treatment of Dangerous Prisoners (1982)
• Recommendation No. R (82) 16 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on Prison Leave (1982)
• Recommendation No. (89) 12 on Education in Prison (1989)
• Recommendation (93) 6 concerning Prison and Criminological Aspects of the Control of Transmissible Diseases (1993)
• Recommendation No. R (97) 12 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on Staff Concerned with the Implementation of Sanctions and Measures (1997)
• Recommendation No R (98) 7 concerning the Ethical and Organisational Aspects of Health Care in Prison (1998)
• Recommendation No. (99) 22 concerning Prison Overcrowding and Prison Population Inflation (1999)
• Recommendation No. (2000) 1469 on Mothers and Babies in Prison (2000)
• Recommendation No. R (2000) 10 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on Codes of Conduct for Public Officials (2000)

The work of the Council of Europe goes beyond standard setting and includes the development of projects and programes in the area of prison services.

Within the Legal Affairs Department a forum for the exchange of experiences and the promotion of legal co-operation has been established. Most of the activities and programmes are developed by the Council for Penological Co-operation and the European Committee on Crime Problems.

Some of the recent projects of the Council of Europe, in partnership with the European Commission, have included the areas of training of prison staff (for example the planned programme for Serbia and Montenegro in 2005) and technical assistance in the area of prison reform (for example the 2002-2003 programme in the area of Penitentiary Reform) amongst others.

Analysis provided by Barbara Nazareth Andrade de Oliveira, Legal Expert.