Equal rights for foreign prisoners

An international conference in Rome is to bring together the directors of prison administrations and probation services of the 47 Council of Europe member States to consider issues around foreign prisoners.

Management of imprisoned foreigners poses a problem whose severity varies between countries. The Council of Europe 2010 statistics indicate that the proportion of foreigners in prison varies from 0.7% of the prison population (in Poland and Romania) to 71.6% for Switzerland, with Italy midway at 36.6%.

The conference will consider a number of issues, including

• How foreign prisoners can be guaranteed the same rights as other prisoners?
• What standards should be applied to avert any form of discrimination?
• In which way can prison overcrowding be reduced?

The participants will discuss ways providing for foreign prisoners more adequately and preparing them for release and reintegration, in the light of Council of Europe Recommendation (2012) 12.

This recommendation sets out a series of measures to be taken, for example:

• examining the situation of foreign prisoners according to the same criteria as for other suspects or offenders particularly when prison regime or sentence are chosen and release is considered,
• providing information on rights and obligations in prison in a known language,
• aiding contact with the family and lawyers and
• building bridges between the country of imprisonment and the country of destination to aid reintegration.