MEPs call for EU common standards for detention conditions

Urgent measures are needed to remedy the “alarming" state of prisons across the EU, the European Parliament has said in a recent resolution. MEPs have called for action to protect prisoners' fundamental rights and minimum common standards for detention conditions in all EU countries.

According to MEPs, an "alarming picture" of prison overcrowding, a growing prison population, ever more foreign nationals being held, large numbers of pre-trial detainees, detainees with mental and psychological disorders and many cases of death and suicide, is painted in the Commission's June 2011 "Green Paper on the application of EU criminal justice legislation in the field of detention."

Prison conditions must be consistent with human dignity and the rights of suspects or accused persons must be guaranteed, including the right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, Parliament stresses.

Pre-trial detention must remain an exceptional measure to be used under strict conditions and for a limited period of time, it adds.

Providing decent conditions for prisoners and granting them access to schemes to prepare them for a return to society should also help to reduce the likelihood that they will re-offend.

One problem that Member States often point to is a lack of resources to improve prison conditions. MEPs have therefore called for a specific EU budget heading to be created with a view to encouraging them to comply with high standards.