The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC) is notorious for its austere conditions of confinement and human rights violations. In response to widespread criticism, the Ontario provincial government created a dedicated task force in 2016 to address longstanding issues at the jail. To date, little research has examined how OCDC has maintained these deplorable conditions of confinement despite concerted effort to improve them. Drawing on Mathiesen’s (1990) neutralization techniques, this thesis reveals the tactics used by government officials and jail functionaries to maintain the status quo at OCDC and stifle transformative change by comparing task force recommendations with their ensuing implementation. Through a qualitative content analysis of the OCDC task force progress reports, trend analyses, Ombudsman, Community Advisory Board, Independent Review of Corrections, and Jail Accountability & Information Line reports documenting issues at OCDC, I demonstrate how the Ontario provincial government and OCDC administration (a) refer to competing demands, higher authority, policy and procedure, or safety and security as excuses for not instituting changes, (b) define policy alternatives as irrelevant or impossible to implement, (c) postpone implementation of measures for not being developed enough or possible now, as well as (d) puncture and (e) absorb policy alternatives to uphold the status quo and impede transformative change. In doing so, I expose the provincial penal system’s proclivity to ‘finish’ (Mathiesen, 1974) alternatives that threaten the current system, thereby gutting new ideas of their ability to generate meaningful social change. The insights provided by this thesis help lay the groundwork for future critical criminological research to examine the barriers to social change in the penal field on a sub-national, national, and international scale.

This study addresses the following questions: (1) What is the human rights situation in prisons in Africa? What challenges do African prisons face in general? (2) Is there a legal framework in place for the protection of prisoners’ rights in Africa and how does it relate to other human rights instruments? What is the mandate of the Commission in relation to the prisoners’ rights? (3) What has the Commission done and achieved under its promotional and protection mandates in respect of prisoners’ rights? Have the various mechanisms been fully utilised in relation to prisoners’ rights? How has the Commission been able to optimise its relationship with the states, civil society and national human rights institutions to fully protect these rights? (4) If the conclusion is reached that the Commission has not effectively addressed issues of prisoners’ rights, how would it do so more effectively? / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Lukas Muntingh and Jamil Mujuzi of the Community Law Centre, Faculty of law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The study focuses on the implementation of the prisoners’ right to remunerated labour in Mozambique. It takes on a human rights-based approach to prisoners’ rights, arguing for the provision of remunerated labour as a measure to enhance a fundamental right to work to the most vulnerable members of the society who are prisoners. Within this broad rubric, the following questions are investigated: (1) What are the domestic, regional and international standards in respect of remunerated labour applicable to prisoners? (2) Has Mozambique complied with the duties arising from these obligations? (3) How can the enforcement of these undertakings be ensured? / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof Frans Viljoen of the University of Pretoria Centre for Human Rights. / LLM Dissertation (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"This dissertation seeks to investigate: (a) whether national human rights institutions are best suited to oversee the improvement of prison conditions; (b) why national institutions are in a better position than others working in this field to monitor the respect of prisoners' rights; and (c) some of the ways in which national institutions can achieve this objective. This will entail an examination of the nature of prisoners' rights and prison conditions and, thereafter, the general character and elements that define national human rights commissions in terms of organization and establishment. These elements will be considered with a view to finding out whether they offer any advantages that can positively influence the conditions of prisons and prisoners and if so, how. It is recognized that national institutions are not the only ones involved in seeking to improve prison conditions. It will be argued however, that even with the existence of the other bodies, there still exists the need for national institutions to be expressly mandated to inspect and monitor the adherence to standards on prisoners' rights. The argument will again be based on the examination of the unique characteristics that these institutions possess as distinguished from other bodies, and the potential these characteristics have to ameliorate the conditions in which prisoners find themselves. ... Chapter one introduces the study and the questions that have prompted the study. Chapter two looks at the nature of pisons, how they began to be and what purposes they serve. This chapter also examines the conditions of prisons in Africa. The scope of chapter three is prisoners' rights, what they are, their justification and the legal regime that regulates their observance. Chapter four focuses on the implementation aspect by looking into what national human rights instiutions are. The final chapter will examine how national institutions have utilized or might utilize their characteristics in favor of the protection of the human rights of prisoners. Conclusions and recommendations will then follow." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Jean Allain at the Political Science Department, American University in Cairo, Egypt / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2003. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

In late 1972, prisoners and ex-convicts in Maine formed Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform (SCAR), a radical prisoners' rights organization that provoked a thoroughgoing public discussion on the function of prisons in Maine and in American society that lasted for about two years. Working for prison reform through legislation, litigation, and community organizing, SCAR influenced a Maine public unusually receptive to new approaches to criminal justice due to the impact of nationwide prison rebellions and the widely publicized massacre of forty-three prisoners and guards in New York’s Attica State Prison on September 13, 1971. As SCAR members, frustrated by the slow pace of change, came to increasingly view crime and prisons as products of an unjust socio-economic system that could be changed only through revolutionary means, a conservative backlash against prison reform also developed in the state, led by police officers, prison guards, and others who felt that Maine’s criminal justice system did not effectively safeguard its citizens from violent crime. When SCAR disbanded in 1976 as a result of internal political divisions and intense police repression, Maine no longer had an organized constituency to push for prison reform, leaving conservatives and the forces of political inertia and public indifference to guide state correctional policy in the years since.

Les conditions d'exécution de toute mesure privative de liberté sont déterminantes de son sens et de son efficacité en termes de réinsertion et lutte contre la récidive. La préservation de l'intégrité physique et psychique des personnes détenues constitue un facteur de légitimité indéniable de l'institution carcérale et de son rôle au sein d'une société démocratique. En vertu des articles 2 et 3 de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme, qui protègent respectivement le droit à la vie et la prohibition des traitements inhumains et dégradants, la jurisprudence européenne a identifié une pluralité d'obligations mises à la charge des États. Les atteintes portées à l'intégrité des personnes détenues dans le cadre de la détention carcérale peuvent être directement imputable à l'État lorsqu'elles résultent du fonctionnement officiel de l'institution, en particulier des fouilles, des placements à l'isolement, des rotations de sécurité, ou des conditions de détention. Elles peuvent aussi lui être indirectement imputables, lorsque la défaillance étatique a permis ou toléré la réalisation d'un acte particulier violant ces droits absolus protégés. L'élaboration des critères d'imputation à l'État de ces atteintes au droit à l'intégrité des personnes détenues et les limites de la responsabilité étatique sont précisément déterminées par la définition et l'intensité des obligations européennes. Si la Cour de Strasbourg apparaît comme le premier facteur de la mutation du droit pénitentiaire et d'une protection renforcée des droits des personnes incarcérées, les lacunes de sa jurisprudence pourraient avoir des effets contradictoires et faire obstacle à l'élaboration d'une théorie cohérente et systématisée des obligations conventionnelles européennes. / The conditions of enforcement of any custodial measure are crucial for its meaning and effectiveness in tenns of reinsertion and the prevention ofreoffending. The preservation of the prisoners' physical and psychological integrity is a source oflegitimacy for the prison institution and its function in a democratic society. Under articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which are respectively protecting the right to life and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, the European Court ofHuman Rights, in its case law, bas identified numerous obligations imposed on Member States. The violations of the prisoners' integrity during custody can be directly imputable to the State when resulting from the official functioning of the institution, especially bodil searches, solitary confinements, security rotations, or conditions of imprisonment. The violations can also be indirectly imputable to the State when its own failure pennitted or tolerated a violation of these absolute rights by a private person. The development of the criteria for violations of prisoners' integrity and the limits of the State responsibility are precisely delineated by the definition and the intensity of European obligations. If the European Court ofHuman Rights appears to be the primary cause of the changing nature of prison and of an increased protection of the prisoners' rights, the loopholes of its case law might have contradictory effects and stand in the way of a coherent theory of the obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Sexual practices in prisons the world over are almost the same. Men incarcerated for many years in limited space with other men without the opportunity for normal heterosexual sexual outlet end up practicing homosexual sex. South African prisons are not an exception. In this dissertation I tackled a number of issues from a Christian Ethics perspective, with a slant from the Evangelical wing of Christianity as this is my background. The few issues I investigated from a South African prison system are the following. Firstly the issue of homosexuality was looked at from an Evangelical perspective. The conclusion was that the practice of homosexuality is a sin just like any other sexual deviation from the God ordained sex within marriage. Secondly empirical research was done to verify homosexual sex in prisons in South Africa. The results of this research confirmed that homosexual sex acts are a daily occurrence in our prisons. The results also showed that the aspect of indecent assault, forced or coerced homosexual sex acts now classified as “male rape,” was rife in prisons. Other factors related to this matter were that prison gangs and Correctional members’ complicity aggravated this issue of “male rape”. Thirdly we looked at the policy of “no sex in prison” as set out by the Department of Correctional Services. A number of discrepancies were uncovered. Firstly, there is unfair discrimination in the treatment of heterosexuals and homosexuals in prisons. Whereas heterosexuals are legally barred from having sex with their spouses while in prison, homosexuals are having sex in prison with their partners. Although the DOCS insists on the policy of no sex in prison, they appear to be condoning it in that they provide free condoms to inmates. In accordance with the stipulation of the Bill of Rights regarding unfair discrimination, the DOCS should treat inmates equally. To make matters worse, the South African Government has sanctioned same sex unions but failed to put in place effective control measures in correctional service centres to ensure that the policy of no sex in prison is not undermined. The DOCS should look at either allowing heterosexuals to have conjugal visits or ensure that homosexuals are not put together in the same cell, so as to adhere to this policy. Fourthly the issue punishment and rehabilitation was also investigated. This was done from a Christian ethical perspective. The Department of Correctional Services says that their objective is not to punishment but to rehabilitate. The discussion showed that putting convicted criminals in prison was a punishment on its own. It was further discussed that punishment is biblical, and that whilst punishment should be left to God, He in turn has put governments on earth as His servants to mete out punishment to those who deserve it. It was also discussed that rehabilitation does not happen automatically, that it needs a buy in by the individual concerned as seen from the examples of individuals cited in the thesis. Lastly, the causes of such sexual behaviour in prison were investigated. Corrupt officials, overcrowding and inadequate food supply, among others, are matters to be rectified in dealing with this problem. Alternatives to jail sentences for minor offences are also strongly suggested so as to alleviate the problem of overcrowding. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / unrestricted

<div> <p>New information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as cell phones, email, and social media, have been transforming how social movements recruit, organize, participate in collective action, and experience repression. Yet, limited scholarship has addressed the uses of these technologies by social movements organizing within American prisons. Using a dialectical interpretive approach, I examine how a coalition of prisoners’ rights organizations uses ICTs to plan and participate in collective resistance across prison walls. The coalition, referred to here as the New Prisoners’ Rights Coalition (NPRC), organizes against low and no-wage prison labor, unhealthy and unsafe prison conditions, and inhumane prisoner treatment. The NPRC has a multi-platform public digital presence and mobilizes prisoner activists and free activists. Through narrative description, I summarize the ways NPRC activists use ICTs from December 2013 through September 2016, noting changes in ICT use over time and in response to movement repression. I find that new ICTs offer innovative ways for NPRC activists to record and document their environments, communicate privately, and communicate publicly. ICTs, however, do not remove all barriers to activism or ensure that activists’ concerns are resolved or even taken seriously. NPRC activists struggle to overcome stigma and mischaracterization online. They face physical repression, interpersonal hostilities, institutional sanctions, economic repression, legal sanctions, interpretive repression, surveillance, and monitoring. In different circumstances, the NPRC responds to repression by increasing ICT use, decreasing ICT use, going dark, migrating from one online platform to another, and shifting digital responsibilities from prisoner activists to free activists. I explain how, most of the time, the digital unreachability of the prison environment makes it difficult for NPRC activists to substantiate their claims of mistreatment, abuse, and injustice. Moreover, I consider how current prison technology policies may be inadvertently pushing NPRC activists into difficult-to-monitor online spaces and exacerbating safety concerns of corrections workers.</p></div>