The

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

prisoner 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, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

s 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, freedo ...

; the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

' Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment or shortly Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) is the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe. Founded to enforce the Europ ...

, and the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, ...

Rights and advocacy by country

Asia

Prisons in India Prisons, and their administration, is a state subject covered by item 4 under the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The management and administration of prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State governme ...

Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized by Iranians and international human rights activists, by writers, and NGOs. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission

** Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights (Iran) **

2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights On July 26, 2010, seventeen prisoners from Ward 350 of Evin prison, Iran, executed a 16-day hunger strike to protest solitary confinement, as well as the poor living conditions within the prison. This included the lack of necessary medical treatmen ...

Human rights in China Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various foreign governments and h ...

Penal system in China The penal system in China is mostly 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 China, which is the second-highest prison populat ...

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) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...

Xinjiang re-education camps The Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training centers ( zh, 职业技能教育培训中心, Zhíyè jìnéng jiàoyù péixùn zhōngxīn) by the government of China, are internment camps operated by ...

** 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 Unio ...

***

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 ( ms, Jabatan Penjara Malaysia), is a department controlled by the Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs responsible for prisons where offenders sentenced by the courts are held. These jails also act as detention a ...

Caning in Malaysia Caning 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 these, the first is largely a legacy of British colonial rule in the territo ...

** 2020 Malaysia movement control order *

Human rights in North Korea The human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of the country's record. Most ...

Prisons in North Korea North Korean prisons have conditions that are unsanitary, life-threatening and are comparable to historical concentration camps. A significant number of prisoners have died each year, since they are subject to torture and inhumane treatment. Public ...

Kwalliso North Korea's political penal labor colonies, transliterated ''kwalliso'' or ''kwan-ri-so'', constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what David Hawk translated as "short-term detention/for ...

***

Hoeryong concentration camp Hoeryong concentration camp (or Haengyong concentration camp) was a prison 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 maximum security area, comp ...

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 awaitin ...

Re-education camp (Vietnam) Re-education camps ( vi, Trại cải tạo) were prison camps operated by the Communist government of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. In these camps, the government imprisoned at least 200,000-300,000 former military officers, gover ...

Europe

Prison conditions in France A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

Prisons in Germany The prisons in Germany are run solely by the federal states but governed by a federal law. The aim of prison confinement in Germany is twofold: emphasis is placed on enabling prisoners to lead a life of "social responsibility free of crime" upon rel ...

* Human right of prisoners in Israel **

Palestinian prisoners of Israel Palestinian prisoners of Israel (or as used by the Israel Prison Service: Security prisoners) refers in this article to Palestinians imprisoned in Israel in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The future of Palestinian prisoners de ...

Crime in Italy Crime in Italy ranks from low to moderate, but is present in several forms, such as murder, sexual violence, corruption, and several more. However, Italy is most notorious for its organised crime groups, present worldwide, known as the Italian Maf ...

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. Currently ...

Human rights in Russia Human rights in Russia have routinely been criticized by international organizations and independent domestic media outlets. Some of the most commonly cited violations include deaths in custody, the widespread and systematic use of torture by s ...

** Prisoners' Union **

Human rights in the Soviet Union Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

* United Kingdom prison population **

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 mont ...

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 The Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill 2012 was a proposed Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The Bill deals with Felony disenfranchisement#United Kingdom, disenfra ...

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

* 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 offe ...

Correctional Service of Canada The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; french: Service correctionnel du Canada), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of ...

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, a philanthropist and early English prison ...

*In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

: **

Human rights in the United States In the United States, human rights comprise a series of rights which are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States (particularly the Bill of Rights), state constitutions, treaty and customary international law, legislation en ...

Incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

** Prisoner rights in the United States ***

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 In the United States, human rights comprise a series of rights which are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States (particularly the Bill of Rights), state constitutions, treaty and customary international law, legislation ena ...

***

Felony disenfranchisement in the United States Felony disenfranchisement in the United States is the suspension or withdrawal of voting rights due to the conviction of a criminal offense. The actual class of crimes that results in disenfranchisement vary between jurisdictions, but most commonly ...

***

Penal labor in the United States Penal labor in the United States is explicitly allowed by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist w ...

***

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 Departme ...

***

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 typically ...

***

Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons Mentally ill people are overrepresented in United States jail and prison populations relative to the general population. There are three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals in the United States. Scholar ...

** 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''. Tyro ...

***

Critical Resistance Critical Resistance is a U.S. based organization that works to build a mass movement to dismantle what it calls the prison-industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance's national office is in Oakland, California, with three additional chapters ...

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 exploita ...

***

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 accompani ...

**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 CIA committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including Physical abuse, physical and sexu ...

***

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

*** Orleans Parish Prison abandonment during Hurricane Katrina *** 2013 California prisoner hunger strike ***

2016 U.S. prison strike The 2016 U.S. prison strike was a prison work stoppage that began on September 9, 2016, the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising. The strike occurred in 24 states, and over 24,000 prisoners took part in the strike. The involvement of 24,000 pris ...

*** 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 no ...

Convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor which was practiced historically in the Southern United States, the laborers being mainly African-American men; it was ended during the 20th century. (Convict labor in general continues; f ...

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 20 ...

* Prisoners' rights in New Zealand **

Voting rights of prisoners in New Zealand The voting rights of prisoners in New Zealand have been in a near constant state of flux since the first election in New Zealand in 1853. Prisoners have experienced varying degrees of enfranchisement. In 2010 the Electoral Act 1993 was amended to ...

* Human rights in Vanuatu

International

Prisoners' rights in international law Prisoners' rights in international law are found in a number of international treaties. For the most part these treaties came into existence following the World Wars, two World Wars and the body of law continues to be added to and amended. History ...

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 a list of countries and some dependent territories and subnational areas by incarceration rate.List of hunger strikes This is an incomplete list of hunger strikes and people who have conducted a hunger strike. Hunger strikes * Guantánamo Bay hunger strikes – Prisoner protests at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a notorious U.S. military prison known for indefi ...

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 * Brewarrin ...

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. Activities PRI's stated goal is to promote safe and secure s ...

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