Data suggest that the number of prisoners exceeds official prison capacity in at least 115 countries. Unfortunately, numerous correctional facilities worldwide fall short of international standards. Important guidelines that aim to eliminate overcrowding are also provided in the following rules and standards: the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners ( Nelson Mandela Rules), which indirectly prohibit prison overcrowding by delineating minimum living standards in detention facilities the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice ( the Beijing Rules) the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders ( the Bangkok Rules) and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures ( the Tokyo Rules), which directly address steps to avoid prison overcrowding. These standards are intended to apply to ‘ordinary cells’ designed for prisoners’ accommodation, as well as special cells such as ‘disciplinary/isolation cells’ (also referred to as security cells or segregation cells). And at least two and a half metres between the floor and the ceiling of the cell.At least two meters between the walls of the cell.Four square meters of living space per prisoner in a multiple-occupancy cell and fully-partitioned sanitary facility.Six square metres of living space for a single-occupancy cell and sanitary facility.The CPT has articulated minimum standards of personal living space in a detention establishment: The most detailed standards on what constitutes overcrowding come from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). Penal Reform International has noted that overcrowding ‘can be so severe that prisoners sleep in shifts, on top of each other, share beds or tie themselves to window bars so that they can sleep while standing.’ #Jail system violation of human rights america skin#Living in an overcrowded prison can mean: spending up to 23 hours a day in a single cell with 120 prisoners but only 35 beds inhaling second-hand smoke from “cellies” in a space overrun by cockroaches and ants contracting skin diseases and fungal infections and eating meals and using the toilet in only two square metres of personal space. ‘All too frequently…the prison may be overcrowded, even to the point of suffocation’. Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited in numerous international human rights instruments, but when do conditions of incarceration – such as overcrowding – cross the boundary from acceptable into ‘cruel or inhuman’ or even ‘torture’?
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