MEPs fear that overcrowding in EU prisons may fuel radicalisation.
Following a meeting in plenary session, they urge national
authorities to opt for alternatives to imprisonment whenever
possible.
EU member states should improve prison conditions across the EU,
so as to protect the health and wellbeing of inmates and staff,
favour rehabilitation and reduce the risk of radicalisation, say
MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. To help prevent
radicalisation, MEPs also recommend staff training, prison
intelligence, interfaith dialogue and psychological care.
MEPs say that imprisonment, and especially pre-trial detention,
should be a last-resort option, reserved for legally justified
cases, and consider it particularly inappropriate for vulnerable
individuals such as minors, the elderly, pregnant women and
people with serious illnesses.
Alternatives to prison
For convicts who do not present a serious danger to society, MEPs
advocate alternatives to prison, such as detention at home,
community service and electronic tagging.
Parliament encourages member states to allocate adequate
resources for the refurbishment and modernisation of prisons,
adapt detention rules to the prisoners and the level of risk they
pose and provide inmates with a balanced programme of activities
and time outside their cells . The specific needs of female
inmates should also be taken into account, especially during
pregnancy and after giving birth, it adds.
MEPs also warn that the increasing privatisation of prison
systems may worsen detention conditions and undermine respect for
fundamental rights. They point to high suicide rates among
prisoners and condemn the prison dispersal policy applied by some
member states, which they say represents an added penalty
affecting prisoner´s families.
The own-initiative report was approved by 474 votes to 109, with
34 abstentions.
Quote
Joëlle Bergeron (EFDD,
FR), Parliament’s rapporteur, said: “In most EU
countries, civil society has turned away from its jails, most of
which are old and overcrowded. It is time to adopt a more humane
conception of prison life, banning prisons which are too large,
boosting alternatives to incarceration and adapting the
institutions to the detainees’ profile. Since this is a national
competence, EU institutions should guide countries towards a
management of prisons and prisoners which is more consistent with
human rights”.
Quick facts
In 2014, prisons across the EU were holding over half a million
inmates, including both convicted persons, serving their final
sentence, and persons accused of a crime who were on remand (20%
of the total, according to Eurostat).
According to the latest Council of Europe Annual
Penal Statistics, which cover the whole of Europe and not
just the EU, the number of people held in European prisons fell
by 6.8% from 2014 to 2015, although prison overcrowding remained
a problem in 15 countries.
