High-security prison in Podujevo, Kosovo

Accommodation, Education, Men

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As part of European Union’s support to Kosovo under ‘Strengthening the Rule of Law’, one of its project outputs includes the improvement of the Penitentiary System in Kosovo. For this, the European Union (EU), through its Office in Kosovo, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economy and Finance signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2010 to facilitate the Construction of the High Security Prison. The project is funded by €8.5 million through EU, with a further €6.3 million of funding being provided by the Government of Kosovo.

The project was implemented far above minimal international standards for prison facilities and incorporated optimal standards that maximize the size of the cells and access to natural light, increased ventilation and welfare facilities. The complex includes the construction of 16 separate buildings and other work areas, including a gate lodge and gate house, detention blocks, administration, warehousing, kitchen and laundry, medical and educational facilities, rehabilitation workshops and visitor’s facilities.

Through a strategic project management planning and procurement process, the project has been able to save over €2 million from the original estimated project budget. By adopting a sustainable approach to project management, UNOPS was able to improve the prison design. For example, by consulting with key stakeholders and making some changes, the capacity of the prison increased from 300 cells to 390. Other infrastructure improvements include better waste water treatment facilities, the addition of dental health facilities, higher-grade window glazing to reduce heating costs and increase security, and the creation of a recycling area.

Links

http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/13-12-13_hsp-project_factsheet_for_opening.pdf

https://www.unops.org/english/News/Pages/A-new-sustainable-prison-for-Kosovo.aspx

Quotes

“I am very pleased with the work done. This facility is one of the best in the region and is one of the biggest projects of the Ministry of Justice for this year” Minister of Justice Hajredin Kuçi

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Jericho Prison Project

Women, Sustainable Design, Accommodation

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The new prison met the internationally recognized standards and requirements as well as matching local needs. The prison was designed by UNOPS in conjunction with the Palestinian National Authority. The prison provides humane and dignified treatment of up to 152 prisoners. The prison includes inmate and staff dormitories, a classroom, medical area, library, dayrooms, extensive outdoor courtyards, horticultural areas and exercise facilities.

UNOPS was challenged to create a design that allows female inmates full movement and use of facilities, while providing privacy and separation from the male prisoners. UNOPS worked together with the donor and beneficiary to design a facility with a range of facilities for women, including a separate dormitory for mothers with infants, three separate outdoor courtyard and garden areas, craft workshop facilities and a dedicated drug rehabilitation dormitory for women. Technical assistance was provided by the European Union Police Coordination Office for Palestinian Police Support.

All of these spaces are exclusively for the use of female inmates and are supervised solely by female wardens. Common facilities that are shared by both sexes include a library and a classroom, an extensive medical and dental treatment area, and a family visiting area. The new Jericho Prison represents a significant improvement in terms of space and facilities available for the care and rehabilitation of female inmates in the West Bank.

Works at the Jericho Prison site also use low environmental impacts building solutions throughout, including solar panels for heating water, a wastewater treatment plant and thermally rated glass windows, which reduce heat transfer. The prison also has external walls designed for the best possible insulation, as well as low cost ‘desert’ air-cooling systems that use water to lower the air temperature. These are less costly to operate than air conditioning for the complex.

Links

http://eupolcopps.eu/en/content/palestinian-civil-police-inaugurates-modern-prison-jericho

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Las Colinas Detention and Re-entry Facility

Design, North America, Women, Mental Health

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The LCDRF is a women’s detention facility designed as a “normative”, residentially-scaled campus minimizing the visual message of a detention facility. Phase II construction was completed in 2016.

The 45-acre 461,000-SF campus has 32 buildings including housing for 1,216 inmates and program and support buildings within a secure perimeter detailed with beautiful, expressive and natural landscaping.

The buildings and the perimeter boundaries form zones along a central spine that radiate toward the functional core of the campus. The building placement and the landscaped spaces created in between encourages an environment of open communication and interaction among inmates and staff. Inside the secure perimeter the landscape concepts are a response to the complexities of the programmatic design principles balanced with the controlled components of a secure facility. The living and rehabilitative environments are integrally connected with the outdoors and site features inherent in a college campus environment.

The site and building architecture supports a culture of expectations: appropriate and respectful behavior; positive change through hard work and responsibility; respectful interaction with other inmates and staff; focused participation in education, industry and other program activities; and ultimately, a more successful transition out of incarceration and into the community as self-supporting and productive citizens.

The facility design works for the inmates, the facility staff and for the surrounding community. The design supports a personally interactive environment that facilitates and promotes staff connectedness to inmates within a controlled, secure and safe environment. It responds to various detention levels needed to support the psychological profiles and classifications of the female inmate population. Staff and inmates can rely on building configurations, which support unobstructed views and amenities which reinforce communication and supervision, facilitating the inmate’s personal growth and transition back into society.

An interior design challenge for the maximum secure areas is implementing design concepts that meet criteria for maximum security environments and control, a high level of endurance and low maintenance, but also integrate evidence-based goals for sustainability and healthy work and living environments.

A wide range of medical and mental health care services are provided, designed for the unique needs of women and various classifications for both proactive individualized treatment as well as emergency services. A psychiatric support unit includes an outpatient clinic that serves women of minimal security and those who have been confined to the maximum psychiatric unit as well.

Links

https://www.fastcompany.com/3044758/how-to-design-a-prison-that-actually-comforts-and-rehabilitates-inmates

http://www.sdsheriff.net/detentionfacilities/lcdrf.html

http://correctionalnews.com/2011/12/15/rooms-view-san-diego-county-womens-detention-facility/

https://www.citylab.com/design/2015/08/future-jails-may-look-and-function-more-like-colleges/402151/

http://www.kmdarchitects.com/las-colinas-detention/

http://hmcarchitects.com/solutions/civic/las-colinas-detention-and-reentry-facility/

https://www.cglcompanies.com/project/san-diego-county-las-colinas-womens-detention-reentry-facility-1

https://www.balfourbeattyus.com/our-work/project-portfolio/las-colinas-detention-and-re-entry-facility

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Luzira Maximum Security Prison

Africa, Women, Men, Education, Programming

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The contents of this project have been taken from publicly available information. Its use here is for illustrative purposes and additional endorsement will be required for use in the final launched website.

The prison houses both convicted and sentenced inmates, as well as suspects awaiting trial. It has a men’s section and a women’s section. It also houses the country death row amounting to about 500 men and women. A welfare project was carried out by installing windows, lighting, plumbing, furniture, mattresses and linen, as part of the African Prisons Project. The prison has a library of over 7,000 books from the UK.

Inmates assume responsibility for maintenance of harmony and functionality of the units where they live, including the growing and harvesting of food, its preparation and its distribution within the prison. Learning is encouraged, with many men learning and teaching carpentry skills to others. There is also the Condemned Choir of Luzira Prison which is made up of inmates on death row. There is an educational system, a beauty parlor, sewing, basket making and arts and crafts at Luzira Maximum Security Women’s Prison.

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HMP & YOI Grampian Prison

Women, Men, Young Adults, Sustainable Design

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The contents of this project have been taken from publicly available information. Its use here is for illustrative purposes and additional endorsement will be required for use in the final launched website.

HMP and YOI Grampian is a purpose built, new community facing prison designed to houseadult males, young offenders and female prisoners. The prison replaced two older prisons – HMP Peterhead and HMP Aberdeen. The 550-place prison includes the main building, an adult accommodation block, a young offenders’ block, a female prisoner block, a prisoner services building with education facilities, a gate building and an admin area. HMP and YOI Grampian also include a community reintegration building, which is designed for prisoners who are working towards being released.

Through the inclusion of a wide range of facilities the prison presents a number of opportunities for staff to engage with prisoners, allowing them to aid a prisoner’s rehabilitation back into society. The prison has been designed as a welcoming and safe environment for visitors; one that is also a child and young person friendly space too.

Link

http://premierconstructionnews.com/2014/02/25/unveiling-hmp-and-yoi-grampian

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Baalbek Prison

Construction, Asia, Accommodation

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The contents of this project have been taken from publicly available information. Its use here is for illustrative purposes and additional endorsement will be required for use in the final launched website.

This is the second of seven projects targeting district detention facilities throughout the country. Aging infrastructure and overcrowding made the situation almost unbearable for prisoners and those in charge. The ICRC regularly visits 23 ISF places of detention in Lebanon, which were originally designed to accommodate 3,500 inmates. But these facilities currently house 6,500 detainees, according to the Ministry of Justice.

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West Kimberley Regional Prison

Culturally Specific, Design, Landscaping

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This state-of- the-art facility was opened in the West Kimberley, near Derby, on 1 November 2012.

Located south of the Gibb River Road and the Derby Highway intersection, the prison offers many firsts across Australia, with a design and operating philosophy premised upon Aboriginal cultures and values as far as is possible. Its philosophy includes recognition and acceptance of cultural, kinship, family and community responsibilities as well as spiritual connection to land. West Kimberley Regional Prison (WKRP) is designed to house 120 male and 30 female prisoners in self-care units. The 22 houses on site accommodate 6 to 7 prisoners each. In keeping with the prison philosophy, the houses are grouped so that prisoners can be located according to family ties or language, as well as security rating.

The facility has a structured day program with an emphasis on supporting prisoners to develop life, work and decision-making skills to build self-esteem and the abilities necessary for self-determination. All aspects of WKRP have been developed to ensure community, staff and prisoner safety is paramount.

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California Health Care Facility, Stockton

Mental Health, North America, Health Facilities

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Pioneering a Constitutional Level of Care in a Healing Environment

CHCF-Stockton was designed and constructed to consolidate facilities for long-term medical inmate-patients, as well as acute and intermediate mental health inmate-patients in one central location for more efficient and cost-effective delivery of services. The new, sub-acute health care facility will allow California Prison Health Care Services to provide the required Constitutional level of care to inmate patients from across the state.

Inmate-Patients Work with Staff to Achieve Mutually-Established Recovery Goals

CHCF provides quality care within the context of a correctional setting appropriate to the inmate-patient population. From planning and design, through organization, staffing and operations, this facility emphasizes an environment conducive to appropriate levels of treatment, and programs for both medical and mental health inmate-patients. The project is designed to create a healing environment based on principles of evidence-based design, which contribute to improvements such as decreased lengths of stay and reduced infection rates.

Designed to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the facility provides for the long-term care needed for a rapidly aging inmate population—with a wide variety of serious and chronic medical and mental health issues—in a safe and secure environment. CHCF represents the initial implementation of the CDCR Medical Classification System. Inmate patients who qualify to be admitted for treatment at CHCF are encouraged to take individual responsibility for managing and achieving recovery goals mutually established with healthcare professionals.

The 111,483 m 2 project was designed with sustainable features and received LEED Silver certification.

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Adelaide Women’s Prison: Accommodation Upgrade Project

Construction, Women, Accommodation

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The Adelaide Women’s Prison Accommodation Upgrade Project is being planned and designed to remedy some of the current environmental issues in the mainstream accommodation block. The design includes:

An improved acoustical environment.
Increased natural light.
Improved thermal comfort through air-conditioning with individual temperature
control.
Softer finishes and emphasis on colour coordination and natural textures.
Multiple options for socialisation and areas for seclusion and privacy.
Private bathrooms within the bedrooms.
Improved outdoor spaces.

It includes design elements to create a more ‘normalised’ living environment for prisoners. A kitchen area and laundry provides opportunities for women to self-care and take responsibility for themselves. There is also have more options for communication with family, and potentially better access to technology for education.

The project is being delivered under an unusual model involving the partnership of Government with the private sector. The project is a training program in which women prisoners are being ‘employed’ in a variety of roles. The upgrade works are being delivered by a group of selected female prisoners supported by a managing contractor. TAFE SA have teamed with the project partners to provide a structured training program with the prisoners receiving training in various trades to gain skills, accreditations and recognised certificates in a range of fields, including construction, decorative and commercial trades.

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Rankin Inlet Healing Facility

Design, North America, Culturally Specific

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The Rankin Inlet Healing Facility is a 48 bed medium security prison intended to support Inuit communities and inmates. The design attempted to follow the precepts of the local Indigenous value systems called IQ (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit). It was the recipient of the AIA/AAJ Certificate of Excellence. The AIA requested that a Post Occupancy Evaluation be performed. First indications, based on inmate/staff satisfaction, community acceptance, and reduced violence look as though it is working.

Images can be seen at….http://www.parkin.ca/projects/mens-correctional-healing-facility/

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Montagne Posée Prison (Seychelles)

Construction Method, High Security, Vocational

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UNOPS constructed a high security cellblock to house prisoners who had been convicted of piracy or were awaiting trial on piracy charges. Its modern facilities, increased living space and classroom area provided better conditions for prisoners as well as a secure environment to hold them in. It also allowed the prison authorities to manage the wider prisoner population more easily by building capacity into the prison system.

UNOPS also built a food preparation area to improve food hygiene; procured equipment and training material to teach the prisoners vocational and educational skills; procured medical and dentistry equipment to improve prisoner healthcare, and; built a much needed exercise yard facility allowing prisoners daily access to the open air.

In addition, building materials and equipment were provided to enable the prison to conduct its own maintenance works around the site, promoting self-sustainability. UNOPS also procured fire-fighting equipment, which contributed towards raising safety standards for prisoners, staff and visitors.

Links

https://www.unops.org/english/News/Pages/High-level-visit-to-improved-maximum-security-prison-in-Seychelles.aspx

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2219618/Will-Thurbin-Our-man-Seychelles-whos-locking-pirates-Indian-Ocean.html

Quotes

“We are deeply appreciative for the assistance given by the UNODC and UNOPS to improve the Montagne Posée prison and for their continued support to Seychelles in its fight against piracy.” Minister for Home Affairs and Transport, Mr Joel Morgan

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UN Beijing Rules (Juvenile Justice)

Young Adults, Planning, Accomodation

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1. Fundamental perspectives

1.1 Member States shall seek, in conformity with their respective general interests, to further the well-being of the juvenile and her or his family.

1.2 Member States shall endeavour to develop conditions that will ensure for the juvenile a meaningful life in the community, which, during that period in life when she or he is most susceptible to deviant behaviour, will foster a process of personal development and education that is as free from crime and delinquency as possible.

1.3 Sufficient attention shall be given to positive measures that involve the full mobilization of all possible resources, including the family, volunteers and other community groups, as well as schools and other community institutions, for the purpose of promoting the well-being of the juvenile, with a view to reducing the need for intervention under the law, and of effectively, fairly and humanely dealing with the juvenile in conflict with the law.

1.4 Juvenile justice shall be conceived as an integral part of the national development process of each country, within a comprehensive framework of social justice for all juveniles, thus, at the same time, contributing to the protection of the young and the maintenance of a peaceful order in society.

1.5 These Rules shall be implemented in the context of economic, social and cultural conditions prevailing in each Member State.

1.6 Juvenile justice services shall be systematically developed and coordinated with a view to improving and sustaining the competence of personnel involved in the services, including their methods, approaches and attitudes.

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UNODC, Afghanistan: Implementing Alternatives to Imprisonment

Asia, Planning, Accomodation, Culturally Specific

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The assessment provides a review of existing legislation, in terms of their provisions for non-custodial measures and sanctions, with particular focus on the provisions for offenders with mental healthcare needs, drug users, women, juveniles and rst time non-violent offenders. It analyses information gathered in Kabul, as regards offences committed by some of these groups and sentences received, with a view to assessing the application of existing provisions for alter- natives and potential for expanding the use of non-custodial sanctions and measures. It reviews the capacity of criminal justice institutions and services in the community, provided by the State and NGOs, to implement and support non-custodial measures and sanctions. It comments on the current discussion on forming links with the informal justice structures for diversion from the criminal justice system. Finally, it puts forward a series of recommendations to increase the implementation in practice of existing alternatives to prison, to expand non-custodial measures and sanctions in legislation, and to initiate practical steps to ensure that legislation is applied, and applied to enhance the social reintegration prospects of offenders.

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A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management

Vocational, Accomodation, Design

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Who the handbook is for:

This handbook is intended to assist everyone who has anything to do with prisons. Readers are likely to include government ministers whose portfolio covers parliamentary accountability for prisons, officials who work within Ministries of Justice and other ministries which have oversight of prison issues, as well as intergovernmental agencies such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation of American States, the African Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organisation. It will also be of interest to a variety of non-governmental organisations and groups from civil society which work in prisons. It should also be made available where possible to prisoners. But its primary audience is intended to be those who work directly with prisons and prisoners. These include national and regional prison administrators. Above all, it is intended for those who actually work in prisons and who deal with prisoners on a day to day basis.

A set of clear principles

The topics covered in the handbook demonstrate the complexity of prison management and the wide range of skills that are required from those whose task it is to direct prisons. The issues covered in the handbook show that there is a common set of factors which, when taken together, constitute a model for good prison management. However, it is not sufficient to consider these topics in a vacuum. It is also important that they should be grounded in a set of clear principles. Since it is intended that this handbook should have application in every prison system in the world, it is essential that the set of principles which is to be used as a reference point should be applicable in every country. They should not be based on a particular culture or on the standards which are accepted in one country or region. The handbook meets this requirement by taking the relevant international human rights standards as its starting point for each chapter.

International standards

These standards have been agreed by the international community, usually through the United Nations. The main human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are treaties which are legally binding on all states which have ratified or acceded to them. Most of them contain references to the treatment of people who are deprived of their liberty.

Human rights are an integral part of good prison management

The International Centre for Prison Studies carries out all its practical prison management projects within the context of human rights. It does so for two reasons. The first is that this is the right thing to do. The handbook demonstrates in many chapters the importance of managing prisons within an ethical context which respects the humanity of everyone involved in a prison: prisoners, prison staff and visitors. This ethical context needs to be universal in its application and the international human rights instruments provide this universality.

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Hi. This link should be replaced so as to give access to the 3rd edition of the Handbook http://www.icpr.org.uk/theme/prisons-and-use-imprisonment/human-rights-approach-prison-management-handbook-prison-staff

Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia

Oceania, Planning, Culturally Specific

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The guidelines and the accompanying principles constitute outcomes or goals to be achieved by correctional services rather than a set of absolute standards or laws to be enforced. They represent a statement of national intent, around which each Australian State and Territory jurisdiction must continue to develop its own range of relevant legislative, policy and performance standards that can be expected to be amended from time to time to reflect ‘best practice’ and community demands at the state and territory level.

The first edition of the ‘Minimum Standard Guidelines for Australian Prisons’ was published in 1978 following an earlier seminar conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology in 1976. United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and related recommendations as well as the Council of Europe Standard Minimum Rules, were used as a basis and modified to accommodate trends in correctional practice of the 1970’s. A subsequent edition edited by CR Bevan (then Assistant Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology) was released in 1984.

Correctional Administrators in 1986 agreed to review the guidelines and guidelines for Community-based Corrections were then added to ‘Minimum Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia and New Zealand. A 1992 revision saw the inclusion of material that reflected the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. However, the Minimum Standard Guidelines for Prisons have remained largely unchanged from the 1984 edition.

As corrections moves into the new millennium it is again timely to review the document in the light of the many changes that have occurred in correctional practice in the last few years. Changes that have included: an exponential growth in prisoner numbers; the introduction of contracted correctional services to many jurisdictions; a re-appraisal of evidence-based programmes that address offending behaviour; an increased focus on ‘throughcare’; the introduction of services for victims; and an increased focus on prisoners and offenders making reparation for their crimes. The scope of the guidelines has also been extended to encompass transport arrangements and work camps. With these developments in mind and with the strong desire of the correctional administrators to have the document become a meaningful and useful tool for correctional jurisdictions across Australia, a change has been wrought to its structure and presentation.

While the guidelines, particularly after the most recent review, incorporate a contemporary approach, capturing the very diverse nature of modern corrections, there is still a very strong recognition of the unique position held by Indigenous Australians within the criminal justice system.

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Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Habitat in Prisons

Planning, Health Facilities, Construction Method

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In 2012 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) updated the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Habitat in Prisons handbook , first published in 2005. The intent of the handbook was to establish a common platform which would contribute to improving conditions of detention through guidelines for evaluating conditions of detention and to understanding the links between water, sanitation, hygiene and habitat.

The handbook contains practical guidance on the environmental aspects of prison accommodation and related services. While it focuses on technical detail, it recognizes that technical solutions and advice cannot be separated from other important aspects of the prison environment, including (but not limited to): how prison facilities are used; the amount of time detainees spend in the open air outside the accommodation area; and access to sanitary facilities.

Link:

https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4083-water-sanitation-hygiene-and-habitat-prisons-supplementary-guidance

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Prison Construction and Rehabilitation Findings and Recommendations

Planning, Asia, Vocational

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This report is intended for use by any within the Afghan justice and prison institutions concerned with prison construction and rehabilitation. It gives an outline of United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) experiences in Afghanistan. It may highlight the problems faced and possible solutions identified along with lessons learnt and success stories.

As contemporary pioneers dealing with Afghan prison construction & rehabilitation, the experience gained could be a useful instrument for Afghan institutions and the donor community for the planning and implementation of future prison projects.

UNODC commenced work within the Afghanistan justice and prison system reform mid 2003. At this time the prison infrastructure was severely debilitated. It was, and is expected that prison infrastructure capacity would need to be dramatically increased to cope with upgrades generally within the Afghan justice reform process.

For the last 29 years Afghanistan was a country in conflict. During this time prisons were used mainly for detaining war enemies. This harsh background did not allow the use of any existing prison facility as a model to merge the Afghan needs with the contemporary prison standards. Along with the severely dilapidated facilities no documentation was available for any persons dealing with prisons.

The Afghan Ministry of Justice signed a project with UNODC focused on prison reform utilising funding provided by the Italian Government. Initially access and work was limited to the Kabul area. It was envisaged the program would move into provincial areas through out Afghanistan after initial works within Kabul were completed. The work within Kabul was more aligned with emergency upgrades and reconstruction. Within the provinces the work would be much more significant in volume and has the potential to demonstrate new methods of prison construction and operation for the Afghan Central Prisons Department.

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UNOPS Technical Guidance for Prison Planning

Planning, Accomodation, Culturally Specific

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The primary purpose of this document is to facilitate a human rights-based approach in the development of prison infrastructure.

Rooted in international legal norms and standards, especially the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules), this manual provides technical guidance and identi es minimum infrastructure recommendations to ensure that prisons respect the human rights and dignity of detained individuals and provide safe, humane and rehabilitative administration of prisons.

In short, the guidance aims to help ll the gap between well-established international expectations for the humane and dignified treatment of prisoners and the relative lack of information on how to build a compliant prison in difficult circumstances.

The technical and operational guidance provided will be most useful to individuals involved in the early stages of planning a prison infrastructure project. By incorporating the various considerations this manual calls to attention, and using the accompanying templates and tools to establish physical and service requirements and a provisional budget, development teams will be able to develop a suf ciently detailed design brief for the more specialized stages of prison design. As shown in Figure 1, the design brief constitutes the initial stage in the life-cycle of a prison facility and is essential in providing a solid foundation for a successful infrastructure outcome.

More generally, the manual is intended to provide instructive and practical guidance to a broad range of individuals involved in the planning and design of prisons, including architects, planners, operational and strategic prison management, government agencies, monitoring bodies, and other personnel involved in the construction or refurbishment of prisons.

Readers should note that the guidance provided is comprehensive in scope but general in its depth: the involvement of design professionals such as civil, structural, and services engineers, architects, and staff experienced in the operation of prisons is indispensable at an early stage of planning. In most operational contexts where this manual is likely to be used, additional consideration of local circumstances will also be necessary.

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The Istanbul Statement

Planning, High Security, Accomodation

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The purpose of the statement

Recent years have seen an increase in the use of strict and often prolonged solitary confinement practices in prison systems in various jurisdictions across the world. This may take the form of a disproportionate disciplinary measure, or increasingly, the creation of whole prisons based upon a model of strict isolation of prisoners. While acknowledging that in exceptional cases the use of solitary confinement may be necessary, we consider this a very problematic and worrying development. We therefore consider it timely to address this issue with an expert statement on the use and effects of solitary confinement.

Definition

Solitary confinement is the physical isolation of individuals who are confined to their cells for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day. In many jurisdictions prisoners are allowed out of their cells for one hour of solitary exercise. Meaningful contact with other people is typically reduced to a minimum. The reduction in stimuli is not only quantitative but also qualitative. The available stimuli and the occasional social contacts are seldom freely chosen, are generally monotonous, and are often not empathetic.

Common practices of solitary confinement

Solitary confinement is applied in broadly four circumstances in various criminal justice systems around the world; as either a disciplinary punishment for sentenced prisoners; for the isolation of individuals during an ongoing criminal investigation; increasingly as an administrative tool for managing specific groups of prisoners; and as a judicial sentencing. In many jurisdictions solitary confinement is also used as a substitute for proper medical or psychiatric care for mentally disordered individuals. Additionally, solitary confinement is increasingly used as a part of coercive interrogation, and is often an integral part of enforced disappearance or incommunicado detention.

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RSA: The Learning Prison

Planning, Education, Post-Sentence

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Prisons and education are difficult partners. Incarceration in itself both punishes the o ender and protects others, but without education and development of skills for employment it offers no long-term social remedy. Yet education is difficult to provide under conditions in prisons, which vary hugely in their size and how they function. Relatively few prisoners – typically the most serious o enders – have the long-term tenure in a single prison that is needed to sustain learning.

The RSA has done an excellent job in setting up the Prison Learning Network and in drawing upon so much willing assistance from across the range of those involved in current practice. It has provided an opportunity for practitioners to share experiences, and to get away from the usual polemical and divisive debate between elite groups about the role of prison.

The Learning Prison suggests key principles for reform, central to which is that of seeing prisons as a core public service that bene ts us all through rehabilitation as well as incarceration. It begins to re-imagine how prison’s role as educator could be placed centre stage to issues of public safety, setting out a vision of a modern service underpinned by strong evidence, community engagement and the deployment of the latest technologies.

This report tries to re ect the constructive nature of our deliberations and to highlight some of the innovations that were shared with us. At an important political moment, it argues for considerable political courage, leadership and inspiration to complement the willingness of practitioners to innovate and to secure greater public support.

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Protecting Children’s Rights in Criminal Justice Systems

Young Adults, Mental Health, Planning

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Protecting Children’s Rights in Criminal Justice Systems: A training manual and reference point for professionals and policymakers is based on the concept of ‘justice for children’. Justice for children takes a broader approach than the traditional focus on juvenile justice as it encompasses not only children in con ict with the law, but also children who are victims or witnesses of crime, and children who may be in contact with the justice system for other reasons such as custody, protection or inheritance (child parties to a justice process). It can be seen as an overarching concept that works for the benefit and best interests of all children who come into contact with justice and related systems. It includes aspects such as prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, assistance services and protection measures.

This ‘justice for children’ framework has been developed in recent years through a number of important international initiatives including:

Economic and Social Council Guidelines on Justice Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime adopted in 2005;
The Guidance Note on Justice for Children issued by the UN Secretary General in 2008;
Model Law on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime developed by UNICEF and UNODC in 2009;
Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child friendly justice adopted on 17 November 2010.

This Manual on protecting children in criminal justice systems will cover the rst two tenets of the justice for children concept: children in con ict with the law and child victims and witnesses. It will also look at responding to children who may be at risk of entering criminal justice systems (either due to their social circumstance or because they have committed an act that would be considered criminal if they were above the age of criminal responsibility).

The Manual will cover a variety of topics and issues including: child protection, crime prevention, law enforcement, trial procedures, sentencing and rehabilitation. These are key areas of social policy, dealing with a growing number of vulnerable children who are often marginalised from society. How these children are treated by the justice system is a critical factor in determining how they will be reintegrated into their families, schools and communities.

While legislative reform is necessary in many countries, our experience has led us to understand that it is not the only answer to protecting children’s rights in the justice system. The strength and ability of justice, support and protection systems and those who work within them is the key to effective and fair implementation of the principles of justice.

The Manual is a tool designed to strengthen the capacity of those involved in working with children involved in the justice process. It aims to be a comprehensive reference guide for those working in a range of professions or agencies within the criminal justice framework. The training module is intended for those professionals and stakeholders who have a training component to their jobs and is intended to help them effectively teach the principles outlined in the Manual using experience-based training methodology.

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UN Bangkok Rules on Women Offenders and Prisoners

Women, Health Facilities, Accomodation

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Because women and girls represent less than a tenth of the prison population their characteristics and needs have remained unacknowledged and largely unmet by criminal justice systems. Prisons and their regimes – from the architecture and security procedures to healthcare, family contact and training opportunities – are usually designed for men.

There was also a gap existing in international standards on addressing the needs of women in the criminal justice system. In December 2010 this gap was lled when the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Female Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, known as the Bangkok Rules, were adopted by the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/65/229).

The Rules are crucial to protecting the rights of women offenders and prisoners, explicitly addressing the different needs that women have and the different situations they come from. The Bangkok Rules are also the rst international instrument to address the needs of children in prison with their parent.

By unanimously voting for the Bangkok Rules, 193 countries who are members of the United Nations acknowledged that women in the criminal justice system do have gender-speci c characteristics and needs, and agreed both to respect and meet them.

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Intensive Learning Centre Building Evaluation

Construction, Oceania, Education

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The MNCCC Intensive Learning Centre is an education facility consisting of four classrooms, a library, amenity area, staff office and landscaped grounds including multi-level timber decking, a yarn circle, walking track and gardens. Most of the furniture and buildings were constructed by Correctional Service Industries. It is designed to operate with forty inmate learners, five educators, a correctional officer and an education manager. This report focuses on the evaluation of the ILC facility against relevant functional performance criteria and the original design intentions, with recommendations for the design of the current and future Intensive Learning Centre facilities. We include summaries of the assessment of technical and process performance as appendices.

A staged mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the MNCCC Intensive Learning Centre where for each user group we first administered a survey, followed by a walk-through interview, and then a focus group with a sub- sample of users. Participants in the research included inmate learners, educators, correctional staff and managers involved in the operation of the MNCCC Intensive Learning Centre during its first year of operation.

Overall building users’ responses and reported experiences of the ILC facility were positive, although participants also identified contentious aspects and aspects of the facility that were not working well.

In terms of what is working well about the design of the facility, inmate learners, educators and correctional staff all clearly indicated;

the design supported the learning and therapeutic aspirations of the program. This is a critical finding as it represents a key intention and objective of CSNSW in the brief for the facility
key environmental conditions (lighting, temperature, acoustics, ventilation) and aesthetics of the classroom resulted in a comfortable and positive classroom space
the Smart-board technology’s value in creating opportunities for learning and engagement
the deck area and gardens create a relaxed, sensory space differentiated from the rest of the prison

Contentious aspects of the facility design and construction included the design of the learner desks and the build quality and value. The large majority of learners strongly liked the unique design of the desks, while the educators questioned there functionality in terms of configuration options. Educators also raised more issues and criticisms with the quality of the construction and design of the facility.

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Making Connections: Providing Family and Community Support to Young People in Custody

Young Adults, Families, Visits

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The importance of maintaining contact with family and community for young people in custody is recognised in international human rights instruments, Australian legislation and domestic juvenile justice standards and policies. It is also acknowledged by juvenile justice staff as an integral aspect of the management of young people in custody.

This recognition re ects the research which has consistently noted that family and community contact for young people is an important protective factor for them. It can reduce their sense of isolation while in custody, reduce symptoms of depression, and maintain emotional wellbeing. It is essential to their rehabilitation and has a role in supporting reintegration outcomes when a young person is released from custody.

The promotion of family and community linkages is not just an issue of frequency, but also embraces consideration of quality. As this report demonstrates, the main means of enabling contact with a young person’s family and signi cant others is through phone calls, the value of which can be, and is, undermined by poor technical quality of the call and compromised call privacy. JJNSW is expanding the use of audio-visual links to complement phones to promote family contact.

Finally, it is argued that youth justice systems are most successful when they are embedded in their communities, that is, when the people, programs and activities of a centre are actively integrated with the surrounding community. In the course of this inspection across two centres, discussions with the local councils highlighted the extent to which a centre can be productively embedded in its community. A range of considerations, including the location of the centre, the contiguous potential resources, and community demographics, are at play.

A key message arising from this inspection is that embedding a centre in its community, and reaping the bene ts of that, requires a strategy and consistency of effort in its application.

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RSA: A Matter of Conviction

Planning, Families, Education

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In January 2016, the RSA and Transition Spaces embarked on the Future Prison project, which set out to explore how prisons in England and Wales could better support rehabilitation. This nal report sets out a blueprint for a community-based rehabilitative prison and a policy framework to support such models.

Perceptions of and confidence in public services matter; they shape the political capital available to political leaders, lending real or perceived legitimacy to policy and funding decisions. If this is true generally, it is particularly salient when it comes to crime, where the public conversation – and people’s perceptions – are shaped to a large extent by fiction, media coverage and heated political narrative. Within this mix, public understanding of the prison service is critical; based as it is on closed institutions, which serve us and our communities but lie beyond most of our direct experience. The 24/7-day of the prison – the residential workforce, behaviour programmes, workshops, the through the gate services, healthcare and chaplaincy – all of these things have a role to play in shaping prisoners’ journeys one way or another. Prisons are, of course, about punishment through loss of liberty and have a primary duty to provide decent, secure and safe custody. But they are charged with a wider role: part-school/college, part-hospital, part-social care, accommodation and advice provider.

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Red Cross Vulnerability Report 2016

Planning, Culturally Specific, Post-Sentence

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Recent analysis of full time imprisonment rates in Australia by the Judicial Commission of New South Wales show that, over the past year, Australia’s prison numbers had reached a 10-year high. With almost 34,000 prisoners, sentenced and unsentenced, the aggregate shows an increase of 10% in 2013. The incarceration in Indigenous offenders is a special source of shame for observers of the Australian prison system. The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded that nearly 9,500 prisoners identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders – more than a third of the total, even though Indigenous Australians are fewer than 2% of our population.

In a climate of fiscal restraint, where scarce governmental resources must deliver to the community the best value and outcomes in services, the time is right for a more rational, economic and humane approach to our national ways and our trend of incarceration. Our federal system is constitutionally designed to permit, and encourage, experimentation and comparative projects of innovation. Australia needs to rediscover its earlier embrace of constructive law reform. This Vulnerability Report urges us to rethink our criminal justice and penal methods. Too often the only direction taken has been to increase imprisonment. It is time to shift gears and to consider new directions and goals.

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Gateways to Justice

Design, Oceania, Custodial

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While courts are conservative institutions, and that is often justified, they are not immune to changes in society, nor should they be. In particular, we have seen in recent times the significant developments of technology used to enhance the delivery of justice by courts in many ways.

Indeed, the introduction of modern forms of technology into courtrooms has been one of the most significant changes in courts in recent decades. None of these technologies has had a greater impact than videoconferencing and CCTV, which, as this report notes, is now widely used in courts for a variety of purposes.

This study, a partnership between justice agencies and researchers, set out to address an important issue for justice policy: how to improve the quality of participation in court processes using these technologies. As the former Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian Capital Territory, I was enthusiastic about the project and was pleased to join it as an industry partner; other industry partners included the justice departments of Victoria and Western Australia.

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Nelson Mandela Rules

Accomodation, Custodial, Planning

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More than 10.2 million men, women and children are in prison globally, and around a third are awaiting trial.

The revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) were adopted unanimously in December 2015 by the UN General Assembly and set out the minimum standards for good prison management, including to ensure the rights of prisoners are respected.

The Nelson Mandela Rules are not entirely new, but an updated version of the 1955 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs). The Rules were revised in eight substantive areas to re ect standards that have emerged in correctional science and human rights since 1955.

As the negotiations on the revised text were completed at an Inter-governmental Expert Group Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, it was decided that they should be known as the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’. This is in honour of the late President of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison and advocated for the rights of prisoners.

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