The rights of civilian and military prisoners are governed by both national and international law. International conventions include the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom ...

; the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument, international human rights multilateral treaty, treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with Disabil ...

Rights and advocacy by country

Asia

Prisons in India Prisons in India are overcrowded and eight of out ten prisoners in Indian jails await trial. There are 1319 prisons in India as of 2021. Currently, there are about 1400 prisons. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of prisoners increased 13% ...

Prisoners' rights in the Middle East Human rights in the Middle East have been shaped by the legal and political development of international human rights law after the Second World War, and their application to the Middle East. The 2004 United Nations Arab Human Development Report ...

** Prisoners' rights in Israel ***

Palestinian prisoners of Israel The future of Palestinians detained by Israel in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is considered central to progress in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Cases of prison sentences include the charges of terrorism or being a ...

Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been regarded as very poor. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights CommissionCommittee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights (Iran) *** 2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights *

Human rights in China Human rights in the People's Republic of China are poor, as per reviews by international bodies, such as human rights treaty bodies and the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), th ...

Penal system in China The penal system in the People's Republic of China is composed of an administrative detention system and a judicial incarceration system. As of 2020, it is estimated that 1.7 million people had been incarcerated in the People's Republic of China, ...

Laogai ''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC). ''Láogǎi'' is different from ''láo ...

Xinjiang internment camps The Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training centers by the government of the People's Republic of China, are internment camps operated by the government of Xinjiang and the Chinese Communist Party P ...

** Notable prisons: ***

Qincheng Prison The Ministry of Public Security Qincheng Prison () is a maximum-security prison located in Qincheng Village, Xingshou, Changping District, Beijing in the People's Republic of China. The prison was built in 1958 with aid from the Soviet Union ...

***

Tilanqiao Prison The Tilanqiao Prison (), formerly known as the Ward Road Gaol or Shanghai Municipal Gaol, is a former prison in Hongkou District of Shanghai, China. Originally built in the foreign-controlled Shanghai International Settlement, following the Chin ...

Penal system of Japan The penal system of Japan (including prisons) is part of the criminal justice system of Japan. It is intended to resocialize, reform, rehabilitate and punish offenders. The penal system is operated by the Correction Bureau of the Ministry of ...

Malaysian Prison Department The Malaysian Prison Department (; Jawi: ; ), is a department under Malaysia's Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for prisons where offenders sentenced by the courts are held. These prisons also serve as detention and recovery institutions. T ...

Caning in Malaysia Caning, also referred to as whipping in traditional British legislative terminology, is used as a form of corporal punishment in Malaysia. It can be divided into at least four contexts: judicial/prison, school, domestic, and sharia/syariah. Of ...

2020 Malaysia movement control order The Movement Control Order (), commonly referred to as the MCO or ''PKP'', was a series of national quarantine and ''Cordon sanitaire (medicine), cordon sanitaire'' measures implemented by the Government of Malaysia, federal government of Mala ...

Human rights in North Korea The human rights record of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations and groups such as Human Rights Watch and Freedom House h ...

Prisons in North Korea Prisons in North Korea (often referred to by Western media and critics as "North Korean gulags") have conditions that are unsanitary, life-threatening and are comparable to historical concentration camps. A significant number of inmates have died ...

Kwalliso ''Kwalliso'' (, ) or ''kwan-li-so'' is the term for political penal labor and rehabilitation colonies in North Korea. They constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what Washington DC–bas ...

***

Hoeryong concentration camp Hoeryong concentration camp (Haengyong concentration camp or Camp 22) was a concentration and death camp in North Korea that was reported to have been closed in 2012. The official name was Kwalliso (penal labour colony) No. 22. The camp was a m ...

Prisons in Pakistan Prisons in Pakistan and their administration, is a Provincial competency under the Constitution of Pakistan. Pakistan has the 23rd largest prison population in the world and the 5th largest death row population. Around 64.5% of prisoners are awai ...

Re-education camp (Vietnam) Re-education camps () were labor camp, prison camps operated by the Communist Party of Vietnam, communist Republic of South Vietnam, Việt Cộng and Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. In these camps, the governmen ...

Europe

Prison conditions in France A prison is a place where people condemned to a custodial sentence or awaiting their trial are held against their will. Prisons are also used to try to reintegrate inmates into society in order to prevent recidivism. French prisons are overflowing ...

Prisons in Germany Prisons in Germany are a set of penal institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany. Their purpose is rehabilitation--to enable prisoners to lead a life of "social responsibility without committing criminal offenses" upon release--and public saf ...

Crime in Italy Crime in Italy, though low compared to other developed countries, is present in various forms throughout the nation. Italy is notorious for its organized crime groups, which are present worldwide and collectively referred to as the Organized crim ...

Article 41-bis prison regime In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as carcere duro ("hard prison regime"), is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations and impose ...

Human rights in Russia Russia has consistently been criticized by international organizations and independent domestic media outlets for human rights violations. Some of the most commonly cited violations include deaths in custody, the systemic and widespread use of ...

** Prisoners' Union **

Human rights in the Soviet Union Human rights in the Soviet Union were severely limited. The Soviet Union was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian state from History of the Soviet Union (1927–53), 1927 until 1953 and a one-party state until 1990. Freedom of speech was suppressed an ...

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

United Kingdom prison population The United Kingdom has three distinct legal systems with a separate prison system in each: one for both England and Wales, one for Scotland, and one for Northern Ireland. As of June 2023, the United Kingdom has the highest per-capita incarcerati ...

Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP) was a prisoners' rights organisation set up in the early 1970s in the United Kingdom, which organised more than one hundred prison demonstrations, strikes and protests. Formation In the first five mon ...

Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) ''Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2)'' (2005is a European Court of Human Rights case, where the court ruled that a blanket ban on British prisoners exercising the right to vote is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. The court did not ...

** Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill **

1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976 when the British government withdrew Special Categ ...

* Children of Prisoners Europe

North America

Incarceration in Canada Incarceration in Canada is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both, for the commission of an indictable offense and other offenses. According to Statistics Canada, as of 2018/2019 there were a total of 37,854 adult offende ...

Correctional Service of Canada The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; ), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and Rehabilitation (penology), rehabili ...

John Howard Society The John Howard Society of Canada is a Canadian non-profit organization that seeks to develop understanding and effective responses to the problem of crime and prison reform. It is named after John Howard (prison reformer), John Howard, a philanth ...

*In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

: **

Human rights in the United States In the United States, human rights consists of a series of rights which are legally protected by the United States Constitution, Constitution of the United States (particularly by the United States Bill of Rights, Bill of Rights), State consti ...

Incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated ...

Prisoner rights in the United States All prisoners have the basic rights needed to survive and sustain a reasonable way of life. Most rights are taken away ostensibly so the prison system can maintain order, discipline, and security. Any of the following rights, given to prisoner ...

***

Decarceration in the United States Decarceration in the United States involves government policies and community campaigns aimed at reducing the number of people held in custody or custodial supervision. Decarceration, the opposite of incarceration, also entails reducing the rate ...

***

Prisoner abuse in the United States A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a sentence in priso ...

***

Felony disenfranchisement in the United States In the United States, a person may have their voting rights suspended or withdrawn due to the conviction of a criminal offense. The actual class of crimes that results in disenfranchisement vary between jurisdictions, but most commonly classed a ...

***

Penal labor in the United States Penal labor in the United States is the practice of using incarcerated individuals to perform various types of work, either for government-run or private industries. Inmates typically engage in tasks such as manufacturing goods, providing servic ...

***

Prison rape in the United States Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff. In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 4.3 million inmates had been raped while incarcerated in the United States. A United States Departmen ...

***

Organ donation in the United States prison population Organ donation in the United States prison population is the donation of biological tissues or organs from incarcerated individuals to living recipients in need of a transplantation. General prison population As living donors Prisons typicall ...

***

Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons People with Mentally ill, mental illnesses are over-represented in Incarceration in the United States, jail and prison populations in the United States relative to the general population. There are three times as many mentally ill people in jai ...

***

Political prisoners in the United States Throughout its history and into the present, the United States has held political prisoners, people whose detention is based substantially on political motives. Prominent US political prisoners have included anti-war socialists, civil rights mov ...

** Notable groups: ***

November Coalition The November Coalition is a non-profit grassroots organization, founded in 1997, which fights against the War on Drugs and for the rights of the prisoners incarcerated as the effect of that war. It publishes a bulletin called ''Razor Wire''. Tyr ...

***

Critical Resistance Critical Resistance (CR) is a U.S. based organization with the stated goal of abolishing the prison-industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance's national office is in Oakland, California, with three additional chapters in New York City, Los ...

and Incite! ***

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) is a prison-led section of the Industrial Workers of the World. Its purpose is 'a union for the incarcerated,' with the goal of abolishing prison slavery, as well as fighting to end the exploit ...

***

Black and Pink Black and Pink is a United States prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners. The group organizes a pen pal program, distributes a prisoner-written newspaper to its incarcerated members, provides court accompa ...

**Notable events: *** 1971 Attica Prison riot *** 1973 Wapole Prison uprising ***

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were accused of a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses ...

***

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

*** Orleans Parish Prison abandonment during Hurricane Katrina ***

2013 California prisoner hunger strike The 2013 California prisoner hunger strike started on July 8, 2013, involving over 29,000 inmates in protest of the state's use of solitary confinement practices and ended on September 5, 2013. The hunger strike was organized by inmates in long t ...

*** 2016 U.S. prison strike *** 2018 U.S. prison strike **

Chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was nota ...

Convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally abolished during the 20th century. Under this system, private individuals and corporations could lease la ...

Oceania

Punishment in Australia Punishment in Australia arises when an individual has been accused or convicted of breaking the law through the Australian criminal justice system. Australia uses prisons, as well as community corrections (various non-custodial punishments suc ...

Indonesian children in Australian prisons Australia controversially convicted as people smugglers Indonesian minors who had been cooks and deckhands on asylum seeker boats from Indonesia to Australia and jailed them in adult prisons. The practice was believed to have come to an end in 2 ...

Prisoners' rights in New Zealand Prisoners in New Zealand are afforded numerous, but not all, human rights. Criticisms by a United Nations report in 2014 highlighted various issues that constitute ill-treatment of prisoners, such as remand prisoners being routinely held on lock- ...

Voting rights of prisoners in New Zealand The voting rights of prisoners in New Zealand have changed numerous times since the first election in New Zealand in 1853, with prisoners experiencing varying degrees of enfranchisement. The only time that all prisoners have been allowed to vote ...

Human rights in Vanuatu The Republic of Vanuatu is a parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 326.000. The Constitution of Vanuatu is the supreme law and sets out the legal framework which deals with the respect of human rights. Generally, the Governme ...

International

* Prisoners' rights in international law *

Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 17 December 2015 after a five-year revision process. They are known as the Mandela Rules in honor of the former Sout ...

List of countries by incarceration rate This is an alphabetical list of countries and some dependent territories and subnational areas which lays out the incarceration rate of each. Accessed Oct 22, 2024 to fully update the table. Use dropdown menu to choose lists of countries by regi ...

* List of hunger strikes *

List of prisons This article provides a list of prisons by country. A Australian Capital Territory * Alexander Maconochie Centre * Periodic Detention Centre New South Wales * Bathurst Correctional Centre * Berrima Correctional Centre * Brewa ...

Penal Reform International Penal Reform International (commonly known as PRI), founded in London in 1989, is an international nongovernmental organization working on penal and criminal justice reform worldwide. It is a Dutch Association. Activities Penal Reform Internatio ...

References

External links

Organizations working for prisoners' rights:
American Civil Liberties Union on prisoners' rights

Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International

Prison Activist Resource Center
{{Authority control Penal imprisonment Penology Human rights by issue