Dignity Danish Institute Against Torture

This review assesses the evidence about the effects of detention on the mental and physical health and social functioning of asylum seekers.

Chapter in Handbook on prisons authored by Dignity staff.

The overall objective of the study is to increase global knowledge and awareness about the particular needs, vulnerabilities/risks and violations of women in detention so as to enhance their protection against violations by national authorities and the monitoring of their conditions by independent monitoring bodies.

This issue of Prison Service Journal is about everyday prison governance in a handful of African countries. This collection of field-based insights into the prisons of specific African countries is the first of its kind and offers a valuable glimpse into the worlds of places which, until recently, have received very little scholarly attention.

In this brief narrative, Andrew M. Jefferson, Senior Researcher at DIGNITY, offers some glimpses of the insides of prisons around the world, reflecting from a very personal perspective, the quandary about the desire to know or not know the horrors of confinement.

Sexual relations between men in prisons occur all over the world, also in African prisons. Sex between men is considered deviant in Zambian society. Yet for some prisoners, it is a way to cope with the stress of incarceration. Prisoners have to cope with extreme challenges in terms of insufficient food, overcrowding and health challenges. For some, entering into sexual relationships becomes a strategy of survival.

Field-based studies of non-Western prisons are relatively rare, which means that our understanding of the experience of prisoners beyond the West are limited. The data presented in this essay are drawn from an ambitious study of the entangled encounters between reform nongovernmental organizations and prisons in Kosovo (in accordance with. United Nations Security Council. Resolution 1244 (1999), the Philippines and Sierra Leone.

Prison officers in sub-Saharan Africa are often stereotyped and stigmatized. Rarely are they taken seriously either as professionals or as objects of study. The guiding assumption behind the survey was that prison officers — though often neglected — are central actors in any attempts to transform prisons. The article aims to inform the wider public about the conditions under which prison officers operate and function and to supplement the sparse but growing scientific literature on prison staff.

In December 2010, members of the Global Prisons Research Network (GPRN) met for a seminar entitled “Dissecting the non-western prison.” The articles showcased in this thematic section were first presented there.

The impact of detention on the mental health of torture survivors is poorly documented, and the available data are insufficient to allow analysis of any specific effects. The studies do report severe mental health issues among detained torture survivors. In general, serious mental health problems are found among the detainees and formerly detained asylum seekers. Systematically identifying torture survivors and other vulnerable groups and assessing and monitoring mental health issues is crucial. The health risks that detention may pose to the well-being of each individual should be carefully considered.

Countries emerging from war or from dictatorship represent situations where the stakes around legitimacy are particularly high and the foundations typically associated with discussions of legitimacy – a rational-legal, democratic state, for example – are absent, or under construction. Practices of establishment and construction and processes of critique and reform present a potent backdrop for a discussion of legitimacy.

It is the hope of Prison Watch Sierra Leone (PWSL) that the present study can be used to inspire a dialogue with the Government, especially the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, including the Justice Sector Coordinating Office, the Ministry of Education, and international and national organizations interested and concerned about improving the juvenile justice system and conditions of detention in Sierra Leone.

This article develops an expansive notion of confinement as a lens through which to think about the lives of former prisoners, former fighters and slum dwellers in a post-conflict setting characterized by political volatility, exorbitant poverty and limited opportunities.