Suchergebnisse

Prison inspection and monitoring bodies are becoming central players in European Arrest Warrant (EAW) decision-making. These bodies write reports on prison conditions and examine their compliance with fundamental rights. Now that poor prison conditions can be a basis to refuse an EAW's execution, these bodies are becoming increasingly important actors in EAW decision-making process. While this is so, there is a remarkable lack of analysis on the legal structures and activities of such bodies. This article addresses this absence by presenting findings from the first European Union (EU)-wide study of prison inspection and monitoring bodies, providing new insights into the nature of these bodies. It provides both empirical insights into these structures for overseeing detention conditions and doctrinal analysis. It assesses the implications of an increased role for such bodies in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) is a supranational prison oversight body tasked with carrying out visits to places of detention across Europe. Prisons fall within the remit of the CPT, and much like prisons themselves, CPT prison visits tend to focus on the male experience of imprisonment. However, the experience of imprisonment is inherently gendered and, as such, the experiences, treatment and needs of cisgender men do not necessarily represent those of cisgender women and transgender people in prison. Therefore, it follows that a different approach is also required when it comes to prison monitoring activities carried out by the CPT. This paper introduces CPT standards and the international legal framework on gender and imprisonment. It reflects on analysis of three years of CPT reporting to explore how the CPT considers the gendered experience of imprisonment. To this end, the paper considers the potential impact of the gender composition of CPT delegations, as well as provides a descriptive content analysis of CPT reports to determine how the CPT accounts for gender-specific treatment and conditions in prison. This paper poses questions and provides suggestions around how gender can be made more central across all human rights monitoring bodies operating in the penal field, both internationally and domestically.