[Documents/Docheader.htm]Europe's prisons
Written question No 450 to the Committee of MinistersDoc. 10375
15 December 2004Reply from the Committee of Ministers
adopted at the 908th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (7 December 2004)
I. Written Question No. 450 by Mr Masson (Doc. 10267)
Mr Masson asks the Committee of Ministers what follow-up action it intends to give Recommendation 1656 adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly on 27 April 2004 following a report by Mr Michel Hunault concerning the situation of European prisons and pre-trial detention centres.
He draws the Committee of Ministers' attention to the situation in his own country's prisons in particular. On several occasions the European Court of Human Rights has found against the French authorities for their treatment of prisoners, most recently on 27 November 2003. These findings of violations merely confirm the observations made by members of the French National Assembly and the French Senate in their reports, respectively "La France face � ses prisons" by Messrs Louis Mermaz and Jacques Floch, members of the National Assembly, and others and "Prisons : une humiliation pour la R�publique" by Messrs Jean-Jacques Hyest and Guy-Pierre Cabanel, members of the Senate, and others. Since the relevant committees of inquiry completed their work the situation has worsened still further, notably as a result of prison overcrowding, which leads to a general deterioration of prisoners' living conditions and a stressful situation for prison guards.
II. Reply by the Committee of Ministers
1. The Committee of Ministers recalls that at their 884th and 887th meetings (19 May and 9 June 2004), the Deputies examined in detail, and very attentively, Recommendation 1656 (2004) on the situation of European prisons and pre-trial detention centres. At the latter meeting they adopted their reply to the Recommendation (document CM/AS(2004)Rec1656 final). The Committee of Ministers would like to reiterate that it fully shares the concern of the Parliamentary Assembly as to the need to protect efficiently the rights and dignity of persons deprived of their liberty and notes that in the above decision it:
– agreed to transmit Recommendation 1656 (2004) of the Parliamentary Assembly to the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) and the Council for Penological Cooperation (PC-CP) to pursue, as scheduled, the work of updating the European prison rules, drawing their members’ attention to the proposals made now by the Parliamentary Assembly and, in particular, to the proposal to prepare a European Prisons Charter. In addition, it agreed to add Recommendation 1656 (2004) to the list of reference documents reproduced under item 5 of the ad hoc terms of reference given to the PC-CP, which remain unchanged. Since then the European Union is actively involved in the work underway in the Council of Europe to update the European Prison Rules, as a means of reaching common standards in this area. It was the Committee of Ministers’ view that an integrated approach to the issue of prisoner’s rights and dignity is the most appropriate, sound and effective way of dealing with this issue as it would avoid duplication, double standards and waste of scarce resources. It would also meet the wishes clearly expressed by both the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament in their respective recommendations;
– considered that the forthcoming 26th Conference of European Ministers of Justice, scheduled to take place in Helsinki in April 2005, provided a most timely and appropriate opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved, discuss possible solutions to outstanding difficulties and provide political impetus to the conclusion of this important work. Therefore, the Committee of Ministers invited the CDPC to submit a progress report to the 26th Conference of European Ministers of Justice and invited member States to report on this occasion on the signature and ratification of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
– stressed that this is a highly topical and important activity and it welcomed the important contribution made by the Parliamentary Assembly through the adoption of its Recommendation 1656 (2004). In the light of the aforesaid, the Committee of Ministers agreed to maintain the Parliamentary Assembly closely associated to the activities in the area of prisoner’s rights and dignity and agreed to keep it informed about future significant developments connected with the implementation of Recommendation referred to above.
2. Pursuant to these decisions the Bureau of the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC), at its meeting on 17-18 June 2004, decided to address a message to theCouncil for Penological Cooperation
(PC-CP), drawing its attention to the new context in which the work of updating the European Prison Rules (EPR) is now to be conducted.
3. At its 47th meeting (13-15 October 2004), the PC-CP examined Parliamentary Assembly’s Recommendation 1656 (2004) and also took into consideration the subsequent decisions of the Committee of Ministers and the CDPC Bureau, as well as its revised ad hoc terms of reference. Thus, Recommendation 1656 (2004) was added to the list of reference documents under item 4 and the European Union participates in the updating of the EPR. Consequently the European Commission (EC) and the Council of the European Union were invited and a representative of the EC attended the 47th PC-CP meeting. The PC-CP discussed the idea of a European Prisons Charter and decided to postpone its decision on that matter, while at the same time entrusting one of the scientific experts to prepare a provisional draft text to be discussed at its next meeting (19-21 January 2005).
4. A first draft of the new European Prison Rules and a draft commentary of the text were discussed and revised by the PC-CP at its 47th meeting and are now ready to be presented to the next meeting of the CDPC Bureauon 15-16 November 2004.
5. These two draft texts have been presented and discussed at the ad hoc Conference of Directors of Prison Administration and Probation Service (Rome, 25-27 November 2004). To this conference were invited Directors of Prison Administrations of all Council of Europe member states, and, for the first time this year Directors of Probation Services. Ms Silvia Casale, President of CPT also attended the Conference. Thedraft European Prison Rules met the general approval of participants and the useful proposals made will be taken into consideration in the further work on the text of these Rules. The Parliamentary Assembly was also invited to participate in the Conference.