Rights & Recommendations: Prison Perspectives on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture

Abstract

In 2018, Ullersmo Prison in Norway and HMP Edinburgh in Scotland were visited by a European inspection body, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). Approximately 250 male prisoners live in Ullersmo Prison, and 900 prisoners,including about 100 women,live in HMP Edinburgh. After the CPT visited these prisons they prepared a report with recommendations for the prison service to make changes in the prison.The government responded to the CPT to let them know what they thought about the recommendations. In 2019, a researcher visited each of these prisons to askstaff and men living in Ullersmo Prison and women living in HMP Edinburgh-Ratho Hall what they think about the CPT recommendations. This is the first time prisoners and staff have been asked about CPT recommendations since the CPT started visiting prisons thirty years ago. The research project explored what staff and prisoners think about the CPT’s recommendations, and discovered that they do not always agree with the CPT, or with the government.This research project will be shared with the CPT so they can learn what prisoners and staff think about their work, and how they can improve it. This handout is a summary of the research, and also provides more information about the CPT.