UK court orders prison officers back to work News
UK court orders prison officers back to work

[JURIST] Justice Timothy Kerr of the Queen’s Bench [official websites] on Monday entered an injunction ordering prison officers back to work after the officers stopped work complaining of an increase in violence. The 24-hour protest was in reaction to increasing violence in the prison system and was intended to spur changes to protect prison workers. The Ministry of Justice [official website] strongly objected to the protest, asserting that it was nothing more than an attempt to “take over the control of jails from governors and run them on a controlled lock-down basis.” Until the prisons can be fully staffed, prisoners are being kept in their cells all hours of the day.

Protecting the rights of prisoners continues to be a contentious legal issue worldwide. Earlier this month Amnesty International (AI) urged [JURIST report] Myanmar’s Parliament to align its draft prisons law with international human rights laws and standards. According to AI, the current bill lacks specifics on how prisons should be reformed to meet the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. It is reportedly devoid of legal safeguards against torture, ill-treatment, unlawful detention, and forced labour and contains almost no provisions relating to minimum standards of health, food, potable water, accommodation, sanitation, and hygiene. Last month Human Rights Watch called into question [JURIST report] Tunisia’s use of house arrests under a November 2015 state of emergency decree. According to the release, at least 139 people have been put under house arrest in what the government has called a means to fight against terrorism. Human rights advocates are concerned with the stigmatization of those put under house arrest, denial of access to education and work, and failure of the government to “provide for the livelihood of the person” placed under house arrest. And in September UN experts condemned [JURIST report] Australia for its laws allowing indefinite detention of intellectually disabled persons facing criminal charges. Under the current law, if a person is found unfit to plead to a charge against them, they may be held in custody for an unspecified amount of time.

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