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Good Practices in Reducing Pre-Trial Detention

Author: Penal Reform International
Date: 2003
Size: 37 pages (61KB)

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Summary

How can good practice for reducing pre-trial detention be pursued? What are the lessons to be learned from Africa and elsewhere in terms of penal reform? This paper, produced by Penal Reform International (PRI), is a work in progress aimed at policy makers, penal reformers and stakeholders in the criminal justice system. It is born partly out of a call for further exchange of examples of best penal practice at national, regional and international levels, by the Ouagadougou Declaration, 2002.

Overcrowding is the most pressing problem facing prisons in Africa, with frequently inhumane population levels. Since 1996, the situation has worsened and a major cause is the excessive length and use of pre-trial detention. In some countries, 80 per cent of the prison population comprises prisoners awaiting trial. The causes of over-crowding are multiple. Principally, the lack of resources channelled by government to the police, judiciary and correctional services means that agencies are not equipped.

Congestion in prisons and overloaded case-rolls skew the criminal justice system. Courts are in a constant state of crisis management and lengthy delays deny justice to the accused and their victims. Additional problems include:

• Poor knowledge of laws and a lack of awareness of legal aid provisions on the part of the poor.
• Accused persons are often unable to pay for legal representation.
• Poor functioning of the judicial system including the slow process of criminal procedures, overloading in the case roll and congestion in the system.
• Insufficient budget in the justice system. Conversely, poor communities suffer disproportionately if the breadwinners are absent for long periods.
• Lack of interest and commitment by the criminal justice system. At times there may even be a hostile court environment.

Any impact on penal and justice reform must occur holistically, involving all agencies across the sector working together. Change and reform take time and require a process involving entrenched attitudes and inherited practices that are difficult to change. However, solutions include:

• Increasing awareness in the world community of the importance placed by poor people on an effective national justice system, for instance through the World Bank report, “Voices of the Poor” (1999).
• Applying criteria to include low-cost, high impact, maximised participation, transferable from one country to another and rights-based, to the selection of “good practice".
• Implementing PRI’s ten-point plan to reduce overcrowding. This seeks to provide penal reform minded organisations and governments with a check list of areas to examine.
• Using trial observations to provide a snapshot of the workings and the fairness of the system. They can be useful to investigate what works well and which areas need improvement.
• Law reform to decriminalise certain offences such as loitering and prostitution. Prison reform to provide enhanced authority for prisons.
• Using chain-linked programmes which allow for greater co-ordination of roles, for instance in Uganda. These have proved effective in improving communication between criminal justice agencies and settling local crises.

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Source: Penal Reform International, 2003, Draft index, 'Good Practices in Reducing Pre-trial Detention', Penal Reform International, London
Author: Penal Reform International (PRI), http://www.penalreform.org