Topic I: Prevention of Inhumane Treatment or

Mistreatment of Prisoners
Introduction
Almost 11.5 million people around the globe are currently incarcerated, almost a third of

whom are still awaiting trial.2 Despite this climbing number of incarcerated, prisoner

circumstances and treatment have remained relatively stagnant, without any significant

improvements. A finite amount of resources for prison systems coupled with increasing

incarcerations has led to poorer quality of living for prisoners. Moreover, this lack of resources

allows for mistreatment of prisoners through both inadvertent and advertent actions. Both a lack

of ability to provide the materials needed for a proper standard of living and lack of standardized

oversight of such circumstances lead to mistreatment of prisoners.

Additionally, such high incarceration rates permit for inhumane treatment of prisoners

depending on the circumstances of incarceration. Detention of excessive prisoners, many of

whom have not yet been convicted for any crime, often leads to overcrowding, degrading

treatment, and broken infrastructure of the prison system. There is an immense lack of

standardization across prison systems both domestically and internationally. Such lack of

standardization even allows for individual prison systems to potentially strip the incarcerated of

their basic human rights. According to the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners which

was passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990, prisoners are to retain all of their

basic human rights apart from those inherently impossible due to incarceration; however, the

reality of many prison systems make such a basic principle impossible

https://www.prisonstudies.org/#:~:text=See%20the%20International%20Prison%20Publications,of%2011.
5%20million%20prisoners%20worldwide.
Chronology

The concept of treatment of prisoners was explored early on in the first meetings of the

United Nations. Founded in 1945, the United Nations was a response to the horrifying aftermath

of World War II and the need for global stability. In specific, these meetings discussed the

treatment of the millions of incarcerated throughout the Holoucaust. This was one of the first

significant discussions about the treatment of prisoners. This focus on humane treatment of all

individuals led to the publishing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.3 Stating

the inherent rights of all humans, this document set the standards of humane treatment of

individuals which include “the prohibition of torture, the right to a fair trial and the presumption

of innocence.” 4

The consequences for many of the actions perpetrated throughout World War II,

including inhumane imprisonment, were detailed in the Nuremberg trials, in which Nazi leaders

were prosecuted and sentenced for their crimes against humanity “on political, racial, or religious

grounds.” 5

In the 1950s, the first resolution to address the treatment of prisoners was officially

passed, entitled the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.6 Passed by the First

United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, this

document details a global consensus on the components necessary to maintain a penal system

that protects the rights of its prisoners while providing fair and just convictions.
3
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
4
https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/nelson-mandela-rules-protecting-rights-persons-deprived-liberty
5
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/nuremberg-trials
6

https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/UN_Standard_Minimum_Rules_for_the_Treatment_of_Prisone
rs.pdf
 Beyond this initial move to protect human rights, international prison reform was widely

undiscussed until the late 1960s. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

published in 1966, detailed political rights, a major cause of incarceration and mistreatment of

prisoners. 7This charter essentially states political and social freedoms as components of

maintaining a life of freedom and human rights.

Explicit mentions of prison conditions and inmate treatment came forth in the 1990

General Assembly resolution, Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners. 8 This charter

emphasizes the specific rights that prisoners should retain despite their incarceration. This

includes the right to religious practices, lack of discrimination, and the opportunity to maintain

social and cultural practices.

The Nelson Mandela Rules are one of the most recent additions to the United Nations’

guidelines on treatment of prisoners. 9An expansion on the Standard Minimum Rules for the

Treatment of Prisoners, this 2005 addition is inspired by the decades long civil and political

prisoner, Nelson Mandela. These revisions updated the expectations for prisoner treatment to

match the human rights that have been defined since the 1950s.

Actors & Interests

● Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights

○ The OHCHR was founded in 1993, in order to address and oversee human rights.

The HRC is a council under the OHCHR, designated to carry out a specific

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-ri
ghts
8
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/basic-principles-treatment-prisoners
9
https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/nelson-mandela-rules-protecting-rights-persons-deprived-liberty
 sub-branch of the OHCHR’s mission. The treatment of prisoners greatly depends

on human rights and thus, OHCHR has a vested interest in improving prison

conditions.

● United States

○ As the nation with the highest incarceration rate, the United States has a vested

interest in improving its prison system.10 With more than 2 million incarcerated

and an overcrowded prison system, the United States needs improved prison

infrastructure to improve quality of life inside prisons.

● Norway

○ Norway is noted as the nation with the most efficient prison system.11 In an

attempt to balance the economic benefits of a reformed prison system with the

actual need for incarceration, Norway’s prison system has low numbers of

prisoners and high reform rates internally. Strong infrastructure and training

promote fair treatment of prisoners.

● Russian Federation

○ The Russian Federation has long been the subject of concerns over unfair legal

proceedings and inhumane imprisonment. This system especially has had issues

regarding social and political imprisonments and inhumane treatment of these

prisoners through labor camp style prison systems. This issue has come to the

forefront of global news in the past few years due to the sentencing of political

opposition leader Navalny and athlete Brittney Griner.

10

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country#:~:text=The%20United
%20States%20leads%20the,2021%20by%20World%20Prison%20Brief).
11
https://borgenproject.org/norways-prison-system/
 ● Iran

○ Iran has come to the forefront of global news through the recent imprisonment

and abuse of protestors. Thousands of prisoners have entered the system and have

exited with signs of torture and abuse. Both the reasons for imprisonment and the

conditions of imprisonment are at the forefront of global human rights concerns.

● Myanmar

○ Years of religious, social, and political unrest in Myanmar have been marked by

the imprisonment of political and social prisoners in a brutal prison system. Run

and used by the military government, Insein prison is known for its harsh

treatment of prisoners, involving torture. 12

Possible Causes
A primary cause of inhumane treatment of the incarcerated stems from a lack of

resources to maintain facility and standard of living. Many of the violated human rights for

prisoners directly pertain to basic living conditions. Maintaining decent living conditions in

penal institutions is often impossible due to low amounts of funding and the increasing rate of

incarceration worldwide. Additional prisoners without additional resources leads to

overcrowding and crumbling prison infrastructure.13

Moreover, a majority of these prisoners do not have a fair right to legal proceedings and

representation. Almost 30% of all detainees are pre-trial, meaning they have yet to receive a

conviction and instead are awaiting legal proceedings.14 This high amount of detainees pre-trial

12
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/world/asia/myanmar-prison-coup.html
13

https://www.unodc.org/res/justice-and-prison-reform/nelsonmandelarules-GoF/UN_System_Common_Po
sition_on_Incarceration.pdf
14
https://www.penalreform.org/issues/pre-trial-justice/issue/
as well as the lack of a standardized procedure worldwide for due process results in unfair

incarceration. These detainees often wait long periods of time in jails despite a lack of

wrongdoing on their parts. Moreover, many of these detainees are unable to receive the

representation and due process they need in order to be freed from their conviction; thus, they

end up unfairly incarcerated.

One of the most common causes of mistreatment and inhumane treatment in jails stems

from various biases. Racially motivated mistreatment is a common theme across jails and penal

institutions worldwide. The Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners states that there

“shall be no discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or

other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” 15However, a 2018 report

to the UN on the United States’ prison system, the largest in the world, the racial composition of

the incarcerated is greatly asymmetrical. 16 Additionally, sexual orientation, religion, and

ethnicity are further causes of mistreatment within prison systems. Religion, ethnicity, sexual

orientation, and political/social opinions are some of the highest causes of inhumane treatment of

prisoners. Ranging from political prisoners to domestic prisoners, inhumane prison treatment

generally affects prisoners of any of these specific categories.

Projections and Implications

The role of the Human Rights Council in the issue of prison reform and treatment of

inmates focuses on the maintenance of human rights and the prevention of mistreatment. Thus,

further progress in standardizing the prison system to preserve such rights allows for the

15
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/basic-principles-treatment-prisoners
16

https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/report-to-the-united-nations-on-racial-disparities-in-the-u-s-crimi
nal-justice-system/
elimination of inhumane treatment in specific prison systems. Worldwide, inhumane prison

treatment is kept silent and continued behind closed doors. The prevention of inhumane

treatment in prisons also has potential to reduce or eliminate wrongful incarceration and protect

the rights of individuals whether they are incarcerated or not.

The guarantee of fundamental human rights even in a prison setting is key to the

protection of human rights in regular society, as prison cannot be used as an excuse to strip

individuals of rights such as self-expression and autonomy. 17

The continuation of mistreatment of prisoners also condones human rights violations

across the world, particularly in countries with social and political unrest. In a vicious cycle,

situations of social and political unrest are handled through systematic stripping of human rights

within prison systems. Thus, prison systems become institutions of human rights violations and

wrongful imprisonment rather than systems of punishment for crimes committed and locations

for behavioral correction. 18

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the challenges in standardizing worldwide prison systems?

2. How can resource allocation for prison systems be prioritized?

3. How can we combat the worldwide trend of increased incarceration?

4. How do religious, sexual, ethnic, racial, political, and social discrimination play a role

mistreatment of prisoners and how can such biases be eliminated from the prison system?

5. What are some worldwide situations related to or leading to mistreatment and inhumane

treatment of inmates?

17
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k/Issues-12.htm
18
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k/Issues-12.htm