CC BY-NC-ND
0Procedía Engineering
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
Humanitarian Technology: Science, Systems and Global Impact 2016, HumTech2016, 7-9 June 2016,
Massachusetts, USA
Treatment of foreign national prisoners in the Ethiopian federal prison
Alemayehu Abdissa*
Mekele University Shool of Law,Mekele,Ethiopia, Po.box 231
Unvivesity of Amsterdam school of law, Po.box 1030, 1000 BA Amsterdam, Netherland
Abstract
Although deprivation of liberty often to a certain degree forms an obstacle to the enjoyment of other rights too, this does not as such mean that authorities are permitted also to deny those rights to prisoners. Several international soft law instruments confirm this. Principle 5 of the United Nations Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners (1990) states: 'Except for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations covenants'. Moreover, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (1957) affirms in Rule 57 that 'the prison system shall not, except as incidental to justifiable segregation or the maintenance of discipline, aggravate the suffering inherent in such a situation'. The principle that prisoners retain all rights apart from the right to liberty can also be found in several regional soft law instruments. For example, Rule 2 of the European Prison Rules 2006 states: 'Persons deprived of their liberty retain all rights that are not lawfully taken away by the decision sentencing them or remanding them in custody'. More specific is Principle VIII of the recently approved Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas (2008)8: 'Persons deprived of liberty shall enjoy the same rights recognized to every other person by domestic law and international human rights law, except for those rights which exercise is temporarily limited or restricted by law and for reasons inherent to their condition as persons deprived of liberty'. And in the Kampala Declaration on Prison Conditions in Africa (1996) the second Recommendation on Prison Conditions declares 'that prisoners should retain all rights which are not expressly taken away by the fact of their detention'. Furthermore, those regional instruments demand, in various formulations, that the suffering inherent in imprisonment shall not be aggravated by the regime in prison .Rule 5 of the European Prison Rules 2006 even specifies: 'Life in prison shall approximate as closely as possible the positive aspects of life in the community'. In the case of FDRE government, the 1995 constitution guarantees that detained persons shall be treated with due respect to their dignity. Moreover, the federal prison Commission was established pursuant to Proclamation No. 365/2003, to implement judicial decisions and to undertake the functions of the custody, reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners as part of the contribution to crime prevention. Ethiopia also domesticated standards for the treatment of prisoners.
© 2016 Published byElsevierLtd. Thisis anopen access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.Org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of HumTech2016
Keywords: Foreign national prisoners: Federal prison: Treatement;
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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
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Procedia Engineering 159 (2016) 186 - 190
1. Main text
The term, foreign national prisoners, refers to prisoners who do not carry the passport of the country in which they are imprisoned. A working definition of foreign national prisoners - prisoners of different nationality who on account of such factors as language, customs, cultural back ground or religion may face specific problems in prison. This term therefore covers prisoners who have lived for extended periods in the country of imprisonment, but who have not been naturalized, as well as those who have recently arrived. [1] This paper reviews the current context of the foreign national prisoner population in federal prison, paying particular attention to their experiences, specific needs and potential threat to their proper treatment from being imprisoned in a foreign country. In addition to the above points, the researcher review existing literature on the needs and potential threats to the treatment of foreign national prisoners across the federal Men's high security prison and women's prison.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +251 911 42 94 65 E-mail address: nnrita505@gmail.com
1877-7058 © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of HumTech2016
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.154
The researcher specifically focus on outlining the key characteristics of the current foreign national prisoner population; summarizing findings from research regarding their needs and vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for future proper treatment. It is mandatory for the federal prison administration to keep in mind that the duties imposed on it are required to safeguard the practical application of the lawful treatment of the foreign national prisoners. Regardless of the responsibility of the prison to conduct the services of prison according to the law with no neglect of duties (Ethiopian Federal Prisons Commission Establishment Proclamation No. 365/2003, It the circumstances in which the Prison finds them, they should act towards every foreign Ethiopian Federal Prisoners treatment Regulation No.138/2007, UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR, ACHPR and UN Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of prisoners, (1957). The federal prisons are expected to comply with the prison vision, mission and prisoners treatment procedures designed to ensure the application of foreign national prisoner's rights. The strict observance of those procedures and the satisfaction of these requirements by the prison are unavoidable and at the same time, constitute valuable contributions of the prison towards the implementation of foreign national prisoner's rights.
2. Method
2.1. Data Collection
This study has employed various techniques to obtain data useful to the study. In doing so, it mainly included analyzing documents and interviews with potential informants. Regarding literature written on the topic under study, it was difficult for the researcher to find literature directly related to the topic. Therefore, he broke the topic into concepts that mainly address issues of foreign national prisoner's treatment. Making this classification helped the researcher to identify books and research abstracts done on the topic as well. Moreover, the researcher collected information related to matters on foreign national prisoner's treatment and its relations with the federal prison services from written documents such as the FDRE constitution , Proclamations , Regulations, books, , the federal prison administration reports, , Directives , Manuals and Circulars, research abstracts and journals. The information generated from these sources includes the way in which just perform foreign national prisoner's treatment and its principles how they should maintain or protect foreign national prisoner's. Stipulations stated in the relevant laws and certain regulations that ordered prison practicing of foreign national prisoner's treatment were compared with data about prison practices gathered through observation and the interviewing of different key informants about foreign national prisoner's treatment. The researcher sought to find answers to questions by studying international and national research proceedings, sources and experiences. An interview is the main data collection technique apparent in legal research. It is used to generate primary information from individuals who have experienced an event or who have some knowledge or information. The researcher employed face-to-face interviews with the key informants to collect information about the practical applications of foreign national prisoner's treatment and its principles by federal prison administration prison services providers while performing foreign national prisoner's treatment services. As the researcher has had 5 years of professional experience in the federal Prison administration, this helped him greatly to identify the variables that precipitate the problem and also obtain relevant information on the topic. Besides, the researcher personal observation of the federal -prison foreign national prisoner's treatment services during the time of data collection, further served him to substantiate the study findings.
Table 1. Collected data
Source of data by services prison services Individuals interviewed
Prison staffs Foreign prisoners Women Men Federal prisons 2 correctional prisons 6 7 3 4
Table 2. Interview response From Federal prison safety and security directorate, kality high security Male's prison and women's prison.
Services Poor (%) Good( %) Very good ( %) Excellent (%)
Human rights protection 0 0 0 100
Language / communication 100 0 0 0
Disciplinary measure 0 0 0 100
Table 3. Interview response at federal prison Basic needs supply directorate, Kality high security Male's prison and women's prison. Services Poor (%) Good (%) Very good (%) Excellent (%)
Accommodation 50 50 0 0
Clothing 100 0 0 0
Bedding 0 0 0 100
Personal hygiene 100 0 0 0
Medical Care 0 0 0 100
Food 0 0 100 0
Water 0 0 0 100
Table 4. Interview response at Federal prison education and training directorate, kality high security Male's prison and women's prison.
Services Poor (%) Good (%) Very good (%) Excellent (%)
Education 100 0 0 0
Training 90 10 0 0
Table 5. Interview response at Federal prison development and reintegration directorate, kality high security Male's prison and women's prison.
Services Poor (%) Good (%) Very good (%) Excellent (%)
Paid work 98 2 0 0
Table 6. Interview response at Federal prison correction directorate, kality high security Male's prison and women's prison.
Services Poor (%) Good (%) Very good (%) Excellent (%)
Psycho -social service 100 0 0 0
Sport and recreation 100 0 0 0
Legal and ethical education 100 0 0 0
3. Data Analysis
However, the researcher tried to find out if there had been any inhuman treatment cases in violation of Ar. 21 of the 1995 Ethiopian constitution, Article 22 (1) of the Federal Prisons Establishment Proclamation, Articles 36-39 of the Regulation on Treatment of Federal prisoners No. 138/2007, Rule 30(1) of the UN minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners and principle 1 of the basic principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, UN general assembly resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990.Findings confirmed that there had been no violation of that nature. Disciplinary measures taken against foreign national prisoners by the prison security and safety officers, as mentioned above, or the disciplinary measure carried out by the security personnel do not come under Ar. 21/1/ of the FDRE constitution, Article 22 (1) of the Federal Prisons Establishment Proclamation , Ar. 39 (2) of the Federal prisoners treatment Regulation No. 138/2007 , UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners General Assembly resolution 45/111 ,Rule Rule 30(1) of the 1957 UN minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners earlier cited. [2]
Concerning Language about 6 of the prison staffs , 4 of men's foreign national prisoners' and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners' respondents mentioned that the federal Kality Men's high security prison and Women's prisons did not make the translation Service and Information packs for foreign national prisoners. the authorities. Often, other prisoners are used as go-
betweens which may lead to misleading information .Whilst information packs for foreign nationals translated into their own language and other initiatives help improve the quality of life for many, there will always be individual prisoners from one of the minority language groups who is likely to experience almost total isolation, particularly if there are no other prisoners in the same establishment from their own country.[3]
Accommodation is one of the basic needs for human survival. The ICESCR under article 11 provided for right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing. Specifically article 10 of the ICCPR provides that detained persons must be treated in respect for their inherent human dignity. The UN Standard Rules for Treatment of Prisoners points out minimum level of provision of accommodation stating the sleeping accommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regard being paid to climatic conditions and particularly to cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation. Regarding accommodation 6 of the prison staffs and 4 of foreign national prisoners' mentioned that the federal Men's high security prisons are not well addressed by the federal prison administration. Specifically, in the federal Men's high security prison, foreign national prisoners are living in separate zone to attend their correction time but each room contained more than 150 prisoners with the no standard sleeping accommodation, Prisoners sleep over the floors and at the night they are crowded.
On the other hand rooms are relatively clean, each room have wind drive ventilation for the whole day, each room have appropriate window for the entrance of natural light, each rooms have bath and shower with water tanker. Concerning the federal women's prison 6 of the prison staffs and 3 of foreign national prisoners' of the respondents mentioned that foreign national prisoners are living in women's prison to attend their correction time, each rooms contained about 85 prisoners, rooms are clean, each rooms have wind drive ventilation for the whole day, each rooms have appropriate window for the entrance of natural light, each rooms have bath and shower with sufficient water supply. [4]Ar. 17-19 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and Articles 7 and 8 of the federal prison Regulations No. 138/2007 on treatment of prisoners respectively provides that prisoners shall be provided with cloths that suited to the health of the prisoner and the prisoners clothing must always kept clean. Prison authorities have to also provide prisoners with separate bed and adequate bedding like blanket and sheet.
They must always be clean and changed often enough to ensure its cleanness. [5]Regarding bedding 6 of the prison staffs and 4 of foreign national prisoners' of the respondents confirmed that foreign national prisoners at the federal Men's high security prison have their own personal bed. In Women's prisons 6 of the prison staffs and 3 of foreign national prisoners' mentioned that the prison provided personal bed for each woman's foreign national prisoner. About mattress or blankets 6 of the prison staffs, 4 of men's foreign national prisoners 'and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners mentioned that the prison administration didn't give to the prisoners at all. Prisoners are required to provide for themselves. About Clothing 6 of the prison staffs, 4 of men's foreign national prisoners 'and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners mentioned that foreign national Prisoners are not provided with clothing. Federal Men's high security prison and Women's prison, the federal prison administration does not provide foreign national prisoners with cloth. Like, uniform, blankets and mattress.[6]Several international standards define the quality of health care that should be provided to prisoners. In the first place, the provision in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (United Nations, 1966) establishes "the right of every one to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health". This applies to prisoners just as it does to every other human being. Those who are imprisoned retain their fundamental right to enjoy good health, both physical and mental, and retain their entitlement to a standard of health care that is at least the equivalent of that provided in the wider community. Prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation.[7] Moreover, Article 22-26 Of UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Article 27 of the Federal Prisons Establishment Proclamation No 365/2003 and Article 11 of the Federal Detainees Treatment Regulation No. 138/2007 provides the right of prisoners to adequate health care. Regarding food, medical care and water6 of the prison staffs, 4 of men's foreign national prisoners 'and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners of the respondents mentioned that the federal prison provided about eight birr and twenty cents per prisoner for each foreign national prisoners per day only for food and with the aid of ICRC the prison administration constructed a common kitchen at kality Men's high security prison and women's prison. Moreover, Kality Men's high security prison and women's prison provided appropriate and full health services for foreign national prisoners free of charge at federal prison administration hospital and clinics and provided appropriate water supply throughout the day for sanitary facilities.[8] prisoners shall have access to academic education and vocational training to facilitate their postrelease rehabilitation. Regarding education and training6 of the prison staffs, 4 of men's foreign national prisoners 'and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners of the respondents confirmed that federal prison provides formal education. But, coming to the practice, 4 of men's foreign national prisoners confirmed that all men's sentenced foreign national prisoners were not participant from the available training program. On the other hand 3 of women's foreign national prisoners confirmed that about 5.98 % of Women's foreign national prisoners was participated in technical and vocational program during the last 2013/14 and 2014/15 fiscal year. As the researcher finding the Education and Training opportunities for foreign national prisoners were against the international and national minimum standards. Concerning prison paid work 6 of the prison staffs and 4 of men's foreign national prisoners 'of the respondents mentioned that like in education and training all Men's foreign national prisoners were not participatory in the available work opportunities at Kality Men's high security prison which is violation of Articles 7176 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Article 23 (1) and (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Ar.30 (1) of federal prisoners Treatment Regulation No 138/2007. On the other hand 6 of the prison staffs and
3 of women's foreign national prisoners mentioned that about 2.3% of women's foreign national prisoners were participated in Kality women's prison beauty salon job opportunity in 2013/14 and 2014/15 fiscal year. The prison authorities explained that because of the content /restrictions / of the FDRE government education and training policy, absence of the federal prison well designed education and training services directive, inadequate resources, education and training language (Amharic), shortage of skilled Man power and security threat they could not provide education and training and paid work for Men's and Women's foreign nationals' prisoners.[11] Putting people in custody is intended only as a means of restricting their movement and not to bring any harm whatsoever to their physical and mental well-being. Accordingly, favourable conditions have to be created for developing the physical and mental well-being of prisoners by removing anything that may cause them distress. It is obvious that sports are beneficial not only for their recreational value but also because of their contributions to physical and mental development. That is why they have become commonplace everywhere. Article 24 (1) of Regulation No. 138/2007 on the Treatment of Federal detainees, as well as regional detainee treatment regulations and directives provide that any detention centre shall provide detainees with the necessary and conducive physical education and exercises. Similarly, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Detainees in Article 21 provides for sports and physical exercises of detainees.[12] Concerning psycho social support, sport and recreation and ethical and legal education 6 of the prison staffs ,4of men's foreign national prisoners and 3 of women's foreign national prisoners of the respondents mentioned that all Men's and women's foreign national prisoners were not participatory in the available Psycho social support, Sports and Recreation and ethical and legal education services at Kality Men's high security and women's prison which is violation of Rule 78 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and federal prisoners Treatment Regulation No 138/2007.The prison authorities explained that because of the resources shortage , shortage of skilled Man power , absence of conducive service delivery place and security threat they could not provide psycho social support, sport and recreation service and ethical and legal education for Men's and Women's foreign nationals' prisoners. [13]
4. Result
The study assessed the practice of treatment of foreign national prisoners in Ethiopia federal prison, Addis Ababa, in light of human rights instruments. In a nutshell, the treatment of foreign national prisoners is far below the human rights standards. Treatment of foreign national prisoners in federal Men's high security and women's prisons is not standardized in some its aspects.
5. Conclusion
National telephone company provide international calling packages, some even offering free calls abroad (for example, Skype) and it is not unreasonable to offer supervised access to these facilities in prisons where there are significant holdings of foreign nationals. The easiest form of contact with those abroad is of course via the Internet and although there are obvious security issues with this, there are no reason why limited secure access to email or internet calls could not be implemented. Initiatives like these would certainly support family contact for foreign nationals and help to reduce their sense of isolation and emotional wellbeing. Prison authorities should take into consideration that foreign prisoners often have to make long-distance calls and sometimes at odd hours, because of different time zones, in order to notify their families about their detention. [93] Prison rules and house rules into a few of the most common foreign languages and should ensure that they are presented to foreign prisoners upon admission. For such a strategy to be successful the first step is for prison services to make clear their commitment to racial equality and to transform commitment into practice, by putting in place appropriate mechanisms. The policy of non-discrimination should be practiced, visible and comprise an integral part of prison directives and manuals.
References
[1] CRIMINAL JUSTICE HANDBOOK SERIES UNITED NATIONS, New York, 2009
[2] Federal prison administration, Ethiopia 2015
[3] Federal prison administration, Ethiopia 2015
[4] Federal prison administration, Ethiopia 2015
[5] Human Rights Protection Monitoring in Ethiopian Prisons Primary Report July 2012Addis Ababa
[6] Federal prison administration, Ethiopia 2015
[7] Principle 9: Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners Adopted and proclaimed byGeneral Assembly resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990
[8] Federal prison, Ethiopia 2015
[9] Flanagan 1985: 660
[10] Human Rights Protection Monitoring in Ethiopian Prisons Primary Report, July 2012 Addis Ababa
[11] Human Rights Protection Monitoring in Ethiopian Prisons Primary Report July 2012 Addis Ababa
[12] Human Rights Protection Monitoring in Ethiopian Prisons Primary Report July 2012 Addis
[13] Federal prison, Ethiopia. 2015
