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Common sense would tell you that prisons in wealthier countries have higher standards than those in poorer countries. I've heard that the U.S. is an exception to this in terms of human rights, quality of meals, etc..
I have a British and American friend who spent some time in jail when he was 19 for drug charges/theft. He moved to America and then started up trouble again for fighting while drunk. He said that American prisons were by far worse. Even though he only spent 4 months, he says it's a much more 'harsher' environment.
Now, I don't believe prison anywhere in the world is a holiday-camp, but I imagine the Europeans are far more progressive with their prison systems.
Common sense would tell you that prisons in wealthier countries have higher standards than those in poorer countries. I've heard that the U.S. is an exception to this in terms of human rights, quality of meals, etc..
I have a British and American friend who spent some time in jail when he was 19 for drug charges/theft. He moved to America and then started up trouble again for fighting while drunk. He said that American prisons were by far worse. Even though he only spent 4 months, he says it's a much more 'harsher' environment.
Now, I don't believe prison anywhere in the world is a holiday-camp, but I imagine the Europeans are far more progressive with their prison systems.
The main causes of concerns in relation to the US Criminal Justice system is that it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 3 - Torture) in relation to Supermax conditions and the Death Penalty (Article 2 - The Right to Life)
The US had to promise not to keep Assange in Supermax conditions if he is to extradited, and no one can be extradited from a signatory country of the European Convention on Human Rights to the US to face the death penalty, as this would not adhere to Article 2 - The Right to Life.
In terms of your experience in a British prison, that would depend on what you have done and the category of prison you were sent to.
British prisons are divided in to Cat A - High Security, Cat B Medium Security, Cat C Low Security and Cat D Open Prison, the system in Scotland and NI being slightly different but still having the main categories.
On top of this Category A prisoners are further divided into Standard Risk, High Risk, and Exceptional Risk, based on their likelihood of escaping, with exceptional risk prisoners being known as Double Cat A.
Rule 43 are segregated for his own protection on a vulnerable prisoners [VPs] wing, this is essential for a paedophiles, rapists, child murderers etc.
Such prisoners are generally known as Nonces, which goes back to the days when NONCE would be written on the board outside their cell, with NONCE standing for 'Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise'.
Other prisoners may be segregated due to bullying concerns, whilst any worries regarding a prisoner can be passed to the ‘Safer Custody Team’.
Some prisoners can be moved to a secure psychiatric hospital for their own safety, and there are also regional medium secure psychiatric units.
Some prisoners can be moved to a different category, and different prison regime, if they progress towards relief, others will be either held they have served their sentence,or have satisfied a parole board, some prisons have to wait until a certain number of years have passed before they can even apply for parole, whilst the most serious prisoners are given whole life tariffs and will never be released.
For those, that are released, the most serious will be on probation for the rest of their lives, and can be returned to prison at any time, if they break any of the restrictions applying to their release.
That's pretty much how it works in the UK, however our prisons are not exactly a walk in the park, and nor are many other European prisons, with overcrowding and poor conditions being significant problems.
Last edited by Brave New World; 10-14-2022 at 06:09 PM..
Common sense would tell you that prisons in wealthier countries have higher standards than those in poorer countries. I've heard that the U.S. is an exception to this in terms of human rights, quality of meals, etc..
I have a British and American friend who spent some time in jail when he was 19 for drug charges/theft. He moved to America and then started up trouble again for fighting while drunk. He said that American prisons were by far worse. Even though he only spent 4 months, he says it's a much more 'harsher' environment.
Now, I don't believe prison anywhere in the world is a holiday-camp, but I imagine the Europeans are far more progressive with their prison systems.
Well it really all depends on the specific aspects of prison life one is taking into consideration , but the short answer is probably a combination of both no/it depends which specific developed country you are comparing the United States to in this regard .
While I have no personal experience with the penal systems of the countries I'm about to mention , I can nonetheless mention some anecdotes told to me about the penal systems of Slovakia , Hungary , and Croatia by acquaintances who used to work as ( say ) prison guards in said countries and/or had grandfathered connections to the underworld via ( f.ex ) working in clubs as bouncers , which I'll definitely try to back up with English language sources if I can manage to dig them up .
To kick things off , again based on what I've been told , prison conditions in said countries are much better now that they were back in the 90's or early 2000's , not to even mention the Communist era when obviously one's theoretical rights couldn't be taken for granted in the least .
Certain big time criminal organizations treating whatever prison they were imprisoned in as their own personal playground was apparently rather typical in the 90's and early 2000's , with certain Slovak prisons in particular having had the reputation of being essentially run by the Sykora and Cernák crime families of yesteryear .
I've also been told that a laughable level of disorganization/incompetence/general official disinterest existed in the Croatian prisons of the nineties , what with prisoners actually being let out at times by guards with the caveat of returning later in order to make room for others , and certain Hungarian prisons also used to have the reputation of being the personal fiefdom of both FSU and Balkan crime outfits during that period of time .
Nowadays with no real big organized crime groups existing in either of these countries , the days of top to bottom criminal control have faded into the past , along with the chronic under funding that led many prisoners back in the day having to contend with ( for instance ) trying to make shoelaces out of bed sheets if the laces on their prison issues pairs got tore up .
Overcrowding is still a problem in many prisons throughout all three countries , though it's getting better now with quite a few newer prisons having been built , and while many guards can and do act in an incredibly rude manner towards inmates , the era of not knowing when you could expect another beating has been over since roughly 1989/1990 .
I really can't comment on the quality of the food available in the penal systems of these countries and such since it never came up in the conversations I've had about this subject , but one definite advantage prisons in this part of the world seem to have over their US counterparts is that of the lack of prison gangs and all the problems that come with them .
Of course AFAIK prison gangs don't really exist throughout almost all of Europe , with the Brödraskapet of Sweden being the only proper European prison gang that I'm aware of :
Common sense would tell you that prisons in wealthier countries have higher standards than those in poorer countries. I've heard that the U.S. is an exception to this in terms of human rights, quality of meals, etc..
I have a British and American friend who spent some time in jail when he was 19 for drug charges/theft. He moved to America and then started up trouble again for fighting while drunk. He said that American prisons were by far worse. Even though he only spent 4 months, he says it's a much more 'harsher' environment.
Now, I don't believe prison anywhere in the world is a holiday-camp, but I imagine the Europeans are far more progressive with their prison systems.
No developed country has the demographics that the United States has.
This country is unique in all of the world in that regard.
Joann McDaniel, an American held since the 70s in Turkey, said it's not so bad. In an interview decades ago, she said she doesn;t even hope anymore. If released, she'd just be re-arrested in the US, where she would have no expectation of better treatment. In Turkey, she lives in a dorm, with other women.
I've seen an argument that most rape victims in the US are men. Rapes of men in prison outnumber rorcible rapes of women in the general population.
The US does have a system of plea bargaining that is very different to many other countries systems, whilst US prisons have high rates of violence and are condemned for prolonged solitary confinement.
Prolonged Solitary Confinement is defined as the practice of confining people for 22 to 24 hours per day without meaningful human contact for a period of more than 15 days, this can amount to torture, according to both the United Nations and the European Convention on Human Rights Article 3: Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
Common sense would tell you that prisons in wealthier countries have higher standards than those in poorer countries. I've heard that the U.S. is an exception to this in terms of human rights, quality of meals, etc..
I have a British and American friend who spent some time in jail when he was 19 for drug charges/theft. He moved to America and then started up trouble again for fighting while drunk. He said that American prisons were by far worse. Even though he only spent 4 months, he says it's a much more 'harsher' environment.
Now, I don't believe prison anywhere in the world is a holiday-camp, but I imagine the Europeans are far more progressive with their prison systems.
The opening of the 2021 BBC Drama 'Time' gives you an insight in to a Cat B or C prison in the UK.
Sean Bean character Mark Cobden has just received four years for death by dangerous driving, which relates to driving whilst intoxicated (drunk).
The standard questions and procedure in middle and lower category prisons, is very realistic, and those around you can often be violent gangs and drug dealers in most prisons in most countries.
I think we should be more like the Guatemala prisons. If the prisoner doesn’t have family to provide a mattress food, and medicine, the prisoner just dies there.
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