Prisoners As Citizens: A Comparative View
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| Author | Baroness Vivien Stern |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050204900207 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
130
Prisoners As Citizens: A
Comparative View
Vivien Stern considers the degree to which prisoners across the
world are afforded citizenship rights by reference to a number of key
indicators, such as access to health services and visits. She concludes
that there has been little overall progress since the 19th century, either
in reducing the socially excluding nature of prisons, or in revising
outdated and destructive concepts of the prisoner.
“The six captives turned, with their faces
close against the wall of the corridor,
obedient, humiliated, spiritless, limp,
stooping, Their backs presented the most
ridiculous aspect: all the calculated
grotesquerie of the surpassingly ugly
prison uniform was accentuated as they
stood thus, a row of living scarecrows,
who knew that they had not the right
even to look upon free men”. (Arnold
Bennett, 1976, These Twain, Penguin
Books, pp.248-9.)
When the main character of Arnold
Bennett’s early 20th century novel visits
Dartmoor prison it is clear to her that the
prisoners inhabit a different universe, so
much so that when visitors approach they
must turn and face the wall. They had no
rights, not even the right “to look upon free
men”. In some parts of the world prisoners
still show their low status by turning their
faces to the wall when visitors pass by, an
action that is a potent symbol of what has
been taken away from them. They have lost
not just their liberty, but even the right to
look at a free person. When the Council of
Europe Committee for the Prevention of
Torture visited Latvia, formerly part of the
Soviet Union, in 1999 they noted the
practice of prisoners turning their faces to
the wall. Such a practice, they said, should
cease forthwith (Council of Europe, 2001,
paras. 171-3).
How far are prisoners still seen even
today as outcasts or enemies who have left
the world of fellow-citizens and entered the
world of criminals? To what extent is their
exile from the life of the society served by
the prison? What do prisoners lose when
they are imprisoned? How universal are the
deprivations of incarceration? Do some
countries see certain restrictions on
prisoners as inevitable whilst others do not?
Can we in the UK learn from how others
treat prisoners on the continuum from
enemies to citizens?
This paper attempts to throw light on
these questions by considering differences
in everyday aspects of prison
administration. Four areas are considered
in detail:
•The extent to which prisoners are
enabled to maintain family and sexual
relationships;
•Whether prisoners can use the same
facilities as those used by the general
public, e.g. health and education services;
•Whether prisoners retain the right to
vote; and,
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