The right to 'safe' accommodation: rights and obligations to a standard for prison accomodation

Abstract

Whilst many international and national rules and recommendations exist for a standard of accommodation for prisoners, court experiences demonstrate are few legally enforceable standards. In response, prison accommodation varies significantly between locations, states and countries with living conditions ranging from the humane to the horrible. Accommodation has been integrally linked to the institutional outcomes with sub-standard accommodation often blamed for riots, assaults, fires, suicides and other behaviours and architectural strategies have often been cited as a method to prevent or ameliorate deaths in custody and ameliorate the prison experience. Recently, it has been stressed that prison accommodation should preserve and maintain the safety, health and dignity of the individual. This paper examines the meanings of ‘safety, health and dignity’ with particular reference to the cross-cultural applications in regard to Australian Aboriginal peoples within prison environments. The paper will review current legislation, standards, best practice and recommendations for the provision of prison accommodation using South Australia as a case study. It concludes that there has been a continual failure by correctional administrators and courts in legislating a minimum standard of accommodation leading to a lack of enforceable standards. As a result, there are few rights for prisoners seeking a minimum standard of accommodation and unsafe, unhealthy and undignified living conditions persist in many prisons.