Name: Neil Keven L.

Millan Date: December 10, 2019

Year/Program: BS Criminology 2B Subject: Institutional
Correction

Human Rights In Prison

Universal standards applicable to everyone have been established with

respect to prohibitions that exist in national and international laws against any form
of treatment or punishment which violates human rights or fundamental freedoms.
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “no one shall be
subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Prison overcrowding could create a range of consequences that have become

prevalent in the world today. First, prison overcrowding could affect resources per
prisoner. The more inmates that are admitted, the lesser resources they can
distribute. Due to the lack of resources, inmates may be forced to spend large
amounts of time doing nothing rather than becoming engaged in activity. The amount
of resources continues to reduce as more prisoners are admitted, and social support
services become more limited. With a small amount of space and resources within
the prisons, prisoners progress more slowly through the steps to release, and their
numbers accumulate more quickly. The combination of those two factors could lead
to the prison system slowing down, and prisoners’ progress would also begin to
move slowly. If the prisoners’ progress is slowed, then their exit is slowed as well.
This will heavily increase overcrowding and results in a facility reaching maximum
capacity at a faster rate.

The rise of overcrowding has resulted in many issues such as:

 Poor health care
 Increased gang activity within the prisons
 Increase in individual mental health issues
 Violence/Racism
 Spread of disease
 Staff stress

Although offenders are being released, most have not received proper
rehabilitation tactics to keep them from committing another crime. This often leads
reoccurring offenders back into the prison system. There has been an increase in
waitlisted or lack of specialized programs (drug, alcohol, intoxicated driving courses)
that allow inmates to have the proper rehabilitation. Some crimes are just simply not
given the option for parole, which holds inmates in the system for an extended time
or even life.
One way to manage populations within the prison system would be to prevent new
crimes from being committed. Some alternatives include:

 Alternative programs that provide mental health services, drug diversion

programs, or house arrest (especially for minor crimes)
 Building more prisons
 Increasing the chances of parole
 Releasing those that have committed crimes that are now legal

Therefore, the same principle embodied in the declaration was enforced and
sustained with the adoption of the International Convention on the subject, entered
into forced in 1987 by the UN Assembly. Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
specifically provides that the State values human dignity and guarantees full respect
for human rights.