Treatment of Inmates

[Gulliver]

Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: [nation]Moronist Decisions[/nation]

Description: RECOGNIZES that those detained by police and judicial authorities either while awaiting adjudication or investigation, or while serving a penal sentence, may be vulnerable to abuse.

WORRIES that those members of society who have been accused but not yet found guilty may be forced to endure worse treatment than those whose guilt has been determined.

THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

1. DEFINES:

• a. "detainee" as a person who is in custody while subjected to questioning, criminal proceedings and/or trial, but for whom either (a) a verdict has not yet been determined at a trial, or (b) whose guilt is determined but is awaiting a punishment to be pronounced.
• "convict" as a person who is serving a custodial sentence after guilt has been pronounced.

2. STIPULATES that all detainees must be presumed to be innocent until a formal verdict is determined at a trial.

3. REQUIRES all member nations to provide the following, at a minimum, to all detainees and convicts:

• a. Sufficient and appropriate living space.
• b. Regular access to physical activity.
• c. A diet sufficient to sustain life.
• d. Appropriate clothing for extant environmental conditions as deemed necessary for the inmate.
• e.   Prevention of abuse, with the proviso that effects that are directly due to the loss of freedom, such as isolation, shall not be considered abuse.
• f. Access to correspondence and visitation with consenting family members and friends from the outside community on a regular, reasonably frequent basis, in a manner consistent with the safety and security of the institution, institutional staff and inmates.

4. PERMITS member nations to temporarily suspend the services detailed in clauses 3b and 3f above for a reasonably short period of time, as punishment for misbehavior after a reasonable judgment is made.

5. MANDATES that member nations shall each establish national standards jointly with the World Assembly Commission on Human Rights for all services listed in clause 3 above, and further requires member nations to meet or exceed such standards.

6. ALLOWS member nations to monitor inmates who are taking advantage of the services listed above in order to maintain institutional security and order, except as otherwise regulated by extant or future international law.

7. OBLIGATES all nations to additionally provide detainees with:

• a. Conditions, privileges, and rights that are no worse than those accorded to convicts who pose a similar risk to institutional safety and security.
• b. Notification of the reason for their detention.
• c. Access to legal documentation relevant to their trial, in a form accessible to the detainee.
• d. The right to prepare for their own defense.

8. OBLIGES member nations to provide oversight of convict and detainee care beyond that exercised by the direct management of the correctional institution

9. GRANTS all detainees and convicts the right to have appeals of conditions of detainment heard by oversight institutions specified in clause 8.

10. FORBIDS member nations from arranging to house their detainees and/or convicts at facilities in outside nations for the purposes of evading compliance with this resolution.

[Eluvatar]

This is at vote.

[Gulliver]

I have cast a provisional vote for this proposal.

[Gulliver]

This has passed 8,271 votes to 3,026. My final vote stood as for.