Human rights and correctional health policy: a view from Europe

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-08-2016-0049
• Published date: 13 March 2017
• Pages: 3-9
• Date: 13 March 2017
• Author: Mary Rogan
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Human rights and correctional

health policy: a view from Europe

Mary Rogan

Abstract

Purpose –Correctional healthcare should promote the protection of human rights. The purpose

of this paper is to bring a discussion of human rights into debates on how such policy should be

best organized.

Design/methodology/approach –The paper achieves its aim by providing an analysis of European prison

law and policy in the area of prison health, through assessing decisions of the European Court of Human

Rights, as well as policies created by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

Findings –The paper describes the position of the European Court of Human Rights on the topics of access

to healthcare, ill health and release from prison, mental illness in prison, and the duty to provide rehabilitative

programming for those seeking to reduce their level of “risk.”It also argues that human rights law can be a

source of practical reform, and that legal frameworks have much to offer healthcare leaders seeking to uphold

the dignity of those in their care.

Originality/value –This paper will provide a rare example of the engagement of human rights law with

correctional health policy. It provides practical recommendations arising out of an analysis of European

human rights law in the area of prisons.

Keywords Health in prison, Human rights, Correctional healthcare, Correctional law,

Cruel and unusual punishment, European human rights law

Paper type Viewpoint

Background: protecting human rights in correctional healthcare

Prisons and jails are eminently rule-bound institutions. Legal frameworks shape the working lives

of healthcare professionals working with prisoners, as well as prisoners. They are especially

important in sites where security and care can often be in tension (Rhodes, 2006; Lovell, 2015).

Correctional or prison law can be a key source of protection for those in prison, in both practical

and symbolic ways. Europe has created a set of human rights standards for correctional

healthcare which aim to ensure that core European values are reflected in its criminal justice

systems. This approach can serve as a model for other nations seeking to improve correctional

healthcare. This paper argues that applying the principles of European human rights law which

govern correctional healthcare will promote better clinical outcomes for prisoners, a better

working environment for healthcare staff in prisons, and the promotion of human dignity and the

prevention of ill-treatment in correctional systems.

The European approach to human rights in prisons is distinctive. The protection of the rights of

those in prisons has been identified as a central feature of European prison law (Girling, 2006;

van Zyl Smit and Snacken, 2009; Snacken, 2010; Daems et al., 2013). Striking features of that

law which exemplify European values include the prohibition on sentences which exclude any

possibiilty of a review to assess a person’s prospects for release (van Zyl Smit Weatherby and

Creighton, 2014; Rogan, 2015), an emerging, though contested, right of access to rehabilitative

programming (van Zyl Smit, 2013), and regular inspection and monitoring (discussed further

below). Perhaps the most succinct summary of European values in the context of prisons can be

found in a decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Hirst v. United Kingdom

Received 31 August 2016

Revised 11 November 2016

2 December 2016

Accepted 13 December 2016

The author is grateful to the

reviewers for their helpful

comments. All errors and

omissions remain my own.

Mary Rogan is an Associate

Professor at School of Law,

Trinity College Dublin, Dublin,

Ireland.

DOI 10.1108/IJPH-08-2016-0049 VOL. 13 NO. 1 2017, pp. 3-9, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200

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