Overcrowding: “building prisons is not the solution”

Prison overcrowding, a chronic systemic problem and a long-standing concern for the CPT, is getting worse in many European countries. Therese Rytter and Hugh Chetwynd report on 35 years of observations within European prisons, and stress the crucial importance of developing alternatives to incarceration, while drawing on proven best practices. “Prison overcrowding means that people who are put into prison are having to live in very poor conditions, which also affects staff, and which means that the purpose of prison is undermined,” they warn, drawing a link between overcrowding and recidivism: ”We see that there are certain countries where there is rampant overcrowding and their levels of reoffending are very high. So it seems that there is a direct correlation.”

Reinforcing protection for vulnerable people in prison

Women, children, the elderly, those suffering from mental health disorders, LGBTQI+ persons, ethnic or religious minorities, or persons sentenced to life imprisonment, require particular attention from the CPT. Their potential vulnerability and the inadequacy of prison establishments to meet their specific needs call for tailored and targeted measures. “Prisons are built by men for men and managed by men as well, which obviously, impacts negatively on the lives of women in prison. It goes also with LGBTQI+ persons, especially transgender people,” Therese points out.

Political will is essential

Although the CPT has made recommendations for a long time, solving prison overcrowding will only be possible through a real political will to reform the system. “What happens in too many countries across the Council of Europe is that it's motions, values, putting more people behind bars, which is the policy, rather than thinking what actually makes our societies more safe,” explain Therese and Hugh. They add: “one recommendation would definitely be to be more brave and to really look at what's best for society, not only to have a punitive approach, but also to look at what makes society much more safe.”