Prohibition of Private Prisons, Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners and Minimum Standards for Correction Officers Act
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Debate will be extended unil 23:59 GMT on 18 November 2022.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
Apologies for the delay, I honestly have to admit that I didn't know much of anything about the Duxburian prison system and thus had to consult with experts to get details and policy recommendations.
It's tough to follow all the amendments and past debate, especially when English is your third language, so I will address concepts from the original act first.
Thoughts on Section I:
The Union of Duxburian Dominions does not use for-profit private prisons, but some of our systems do use non-profit private prisons. Governments have money, but not necessarily the facilities or expertise to run a prison system, so some of them contract these out, especially more niche functions like diversion and education annexes. Thus, I must oppose most of this section unless an amendment allowing non-profit private prisons carries.Thoughts on Section II:
Clause II is unnecessary and too specific. It should be sufficient to use some form of Clause I and strike all of II. Those categories are going to vary by national justice systems. In the Duxburian system, 15 is a provisional adult and 20 is a full adult, so someone in the middle gets tried and accommodated as a prov, not as a juv or an adult. People awaiting trial or detained on suspicion of a crime never go into prisons, they belong in jails. It's an important distinction because they have not been found guilty of a crime (some have not even been charged with a crime yet and some never will) and thus must be treated accordingly. Likewise, we have no concept of civil prisoners - prisons are for criminals. What separates the definition of a criminal offense from that of a civil offense is whether one faces time as a consequence. Your national system might do these things differently, so the categories should be left up to member-states.
Clause V as others have commented is odd. It's a prison, not a boutique restaurant. The food should be sufficient for basic needs and the water should be clean. Other than that, if they want special things for non-medical necessity reasons, they should consider not committing the crime in the first place.
Clauses VII and VIII should be struck. Solitary confinement is an important tool for protection as well as punishment. If a clause must be kept, it should mandate solitary confinement not be used arbitrarily or for unreasonable lengths of time. Specifying actual times ties the hands of staff responsible for behavior management, particularly when dealing with violent and unstable prisoners.
Clause IX should be re-written. Courts hate this type of writing. Legislation is a bunch of rules that must be followed, there's no "should" or "encourage".
Clause XI should be a right to exercise, without specifics. The nature of time outside and the duration depends on a prisoner's behavior. This clause is particularly bad because it specifies the minimum is an hour...without a time frame. You could say a prisoner only gets one hour out for their entire life sentence.
Clause XII is unworkable, except in the case of emergency care.
Thoughts on Section III:
Clause I: Lower than the average wage of what? Duxburian industries set their own wage standards, there is no national standard since each field of thing is very different from others. Average is also a bad metric to use for a minimum wage, for obvious reasons. People being paid average wage for their industry put in the time to achieve the experience, title, and rank-in-title to get that.
Clause II is unworkable.
Clause III is unworkable. Provided housing is a private sector thing...and a military thing. Duxburian federal law also forbids this if you want to work for a local prison system run by a local government - you must live in the municipality you serve. It also wouldn't work if you want to work for a dominion-level prison system and the dominion is something like Nikoveria, which consists of just two cities.
Clause IV is a western country thing. We don't have weeks because we don't use your calendar, each industry decides how it wants to block out the days in a calendar year. Paid leave is negotiated per contract. If you have leverage and know how to use it, you get more. If you lack leverage or don't know how to negotiate, you get less.
Clause V...we're not socialist. None of this makes any sense.
Come to think of it, all of Section III should be struck and re-thought.
Thoughts on Section IV:
This is a strange way to do things rather than just use the standard legislative sync process most other acts use.
The act is salvageable, anything I didn't mention is agreeable to us. However, it does too much mono-culture leveling as-is. We're not a western civilization and aren't going to become one. That doesn't mean we don't want to have standards and guardrails...but the implementation of such still needs to make sense in our culture. The EU motto is "United in Diversity", never forget it.
I'm not prepared to propose amendments at this time since I still need to wade through all the amendments currently on the table.
Wesley Greene
Councillor-General of the Duxburian Union -
I once again thank all my colleagues for their comments. First of all, you are completely right Karin, but please raise the technical amendments, it is in the interest of the Union to have the text without mistakes.
Councillor Mizrachi-Roscoe, you claim that torture is alright as long as you provide prisoners with television? That television can replace human contact? Surely you can't be serious, please realize you are in a Council building, not a circus so please behave accordingly, you can't make torture humane. Your words have however moved me and I will certainly talk with my government about granting the United Duchies aid for developing countries, should they request it, to improve the, as you said, unsatisfactory situation in the Duchies' healthcare and administration.
You are also very correct Iras!
Councillor Zachary, I commend your work on the proposal, however, not that I would disagree, but stating that protection of discrimination is expected is a bit redundant, gender-based discrimination has already been banned and it applies even without the Act. Please understand that there of course are reasonable concerns about the establishment of PRISCOM, it is another agency, more bureaucracy which will be funded from taxes of the citizens of member states, so we need to understand what benefits it would bring, do I understand it correctly you consider national institutions unreliable, which is why you want to see PRISCOM established?
Finally, Councillor Greene, thank you for your valuable input, I completely agree with some of your comments, the word "should" should be changed to "shall". The word "encourage" is however not problematic, but if you come up with different wording I will consider it. Likewise, very good observation on Article XI. of Section II., this will indeed need to be amended to clearly state that it should be an hour a day, I can also agree with the hour being reserved for outside exercise, although I am of the opinion that we should ensure that the prisons are equipped with facilities for sports, are we in agreement on that?
Other than that, I however feel that perhaps you have not completely understood parts of the Proposal. Article II. of Section II. for example, I don't understand your concerns, especially since it seems that the Union of Duxburian Dominions already fulfils the requirements set by the Article. It already doesn't allow placing young and adult offenders in the same premises, it doesn't place convicted and untried individuals it the same premises and it doesn't place civil prisoners in the same premises as those who committed a criminal offense, thus the Union of Duxburian Dominions already fulfils these requirements and there would be no changes required if the Act passes.
Article V. of Section II. I could you please explain to me, what part of the article goes above the basic needs? Requiring the food and water to contain necessary nutrients and vitamins is to satisfy the basic dietary needs, and I understand that we agree that those should be guaranteed, so please explain what you find "odd" about the Article, because it seeks to do what you agree with.
To address the issue of housing, again Duxburian Union would not be affected by this, if what you are saying is factual, but you need to understand that not all places in Europe like having prisons with potentially dangerous criminals in highly populated areas, and reliance on local population could not satisfy the requirements for correction officers for those prisons, which gives the proposal its meaning. But if Duxburian Union prefers having prisons with potentially dangerous individuals in highly populated areas which can meet their demands for correction officers living close to their place of employment this act would not force it to change its system.
I am also not sure what is the issue with the nearly universal, not just western, units of time measurement. Surely, we understand what timeframe is meant by it and that is the important part, although I understand you disagree with the timeframe as well.
However, cultural traditions can't serve as an excuse for torture, cutting of hands, stoning or bride kidnappings are not acceptable because of being a tradition. Or do you disagree with me? And prolonged solitary confinement is proven to be a psychological torment. Not stating precise lengths of time would make the Articles meaningless. Do I also understand it correctly that Duxburian system places mentally unstable individuals in prisons instead of psychiatric hospitals? Such people can hardly consider not committing a crime, they are ill and require hospital treatment, not being placed in a place with mentally fit prisoners.
Regarding average wage means the national average, you can calculate it by counting all the incomes and look for the average number from them. It would not be an average for that sector, it would be the minimum in that sector. Could you explain to us why you consider that an issue Councillor Greene? Would you disagree with me, when I say that it is a demanding job, both physically and mentally, with high risks to the officer's health and life?
It is clear we already disagree on some points like banning private prisons. If your livelihood depends on the prisons having prisoners to fill them with it is in their interests that the prisons are indeed filled with prisoners, it thus can't remain in private hands.
Last comment, regarding your comments to Article V. of Section III., indeed socialism is great, as is demonstrated time and time again on the example of my homeland, but not all good things are necessarily socialism, which is also the case of this Article. You don't need to worry about socialism creeping to power in your state by providing people who have dedicated their life to their country and community and brought many sacrifices for it with pensions, the level of which would be left on member states to determine, and a spa or rehabilitation institution access.
With all of that said, I am looking forward to your amendments and further comments.
Sofie Čikarová
Councillor for Czech Slavia -
You are clearly missing the point where its necessary to do solitary confinement sometimes for the duration of the sentence. If you remove the option for solitary confinement for safety of the prisoners, prevention of spreading of extremism and to be able to confine the most dangerous prisoners I garuntee more deaths of prisoners who you are supposedly trying to protect will happen and that people will die from more terrorist attacks. I hope you can explain to the victims of increased attacks and their families how it all had to happen because all prisoners should have time with other prisoners regardless of risk and that their sons and daughters are worthy sacrifices to achieve the goal of no pernament solitary confinement. We don't in Duchies do it as a first resort but only when all options are exhausted yet you want to remove this option that is vital in protecting many prisoners either from the prison population or protecting the prison population from the most dangerous prisons. You will have the blood of every prisoner who dies from this do gooder but naive proposal and so will anyone who votes in favour of removing solitary confinement as an option for prisons as a protection policy.
James Mizrachi-Roscoe, Councillor for United Duchies
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Dear Cllr. Mizrachi-Roscoe, do you accept the use of paddling or electric shocks to ensure the "behavior" of children or the mentally ill? If not, how is solitary confinement any different? They are all certainly effective, to one degree or the other, but they cause such severe mental and even physical harm to their victims that they must necessarily be viewed as abuse.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
On behalf of the United Kingdom, I wholeheartedly support this legislation. These are still citizens and deserve humane conditions.
Councillor Lyn Brown
Councillor for the United Kingdom -
Frankly the techniques of paddling or electric shock are no comparison as they have no protective function. When if this passes a police officer dies because he was mixed in with general population and is attacked or a prisoner dies because we have to mix a violent psychopathic uncontrollable prisoner has to go out of solitary or a family loses a child or father or mother because of some extremist who was introduced to extremism by an extremist who was out of cell to meet the needs of this law I hope you can be the one to explain to the deads family how it was in their relatives best interest to meet some misguided notion of defeating the always evil solitary confinement because that is the result this law will have That is all.
James Mizrachi-Roscoe, Councillor for United Duchies
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Dear Ms Speaker, I would like to request another extension as some of my colleagues expressed their wishes to work on the proposal further. And many thanks Ms Brown, you are entirely correct.
Sofie Čikarová
Councillor for Czech Slavia -
Debate will be extended to 23:59 GMT on 25 November 2022.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
Debate has ended. There are eighteen amendments for vote. Be aware that several contradict each other. Voting begins now and will continue until 23:59 GMT on 5 December 2022.
Amendment I
Prohibition of Private Prisons, Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners and Minimum Standards for Correction Officers Act
Regulation of Prisons, Guidelines on Treatment of Prisoners and Wage Standards for Correction Officers Act
Amendment II
Remove the "Wheareas" section and replace it with the following:
PREAMBLE
This Act aims to regulate all prisons within the borders of the European Union and the wages of officers working in prisons within the borders of the European Union, to ensure that they are up to the standards of human rights and dignity, enshrined within the Constitution of the European Union.Amendment III
Remove Section I entirely and replace it with the following:
SECTION I. - RECOGNITION OF UNPAID LABOUR AS SLAVERY
Labour without adequate pay in prisons is recognized as a form of slavery by the European Union.
Amendment IV
Remove the third and fourth articles in Section II and replace them with the following:
II. All prisons are expected to supply all prisoners with a bed and restrooms. Prisons may not deny access to restrooms as a form of punishment.
Amendment V
III. Each prisoner
shallis entitled to have access to food and water thatcontain the necessary vitamins and nutrients for a healthy life.is sufficient to guarantee their survival and help with their hunger.
VII. No prisoner can be held in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days in the span of sixty days.
VIII. Prisoners who are not employed outside the prison facilityshallare qualified to receive at least an hourfor sportsoutside for leisure activities.
Amendment VI
VIII. Solitary confinement shall be used only as a last resort.
IX. Each prison shall have a library to which the prisoners should have access to. Prisons should encourage prisoners to access the library.
X. Each prisoner shall be guaranteed his or her right to work.
XII. All prisoners shall be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.
Amendment VII
SECTION III. -
MINIMUM STANDARTSWAGE STANDARDS FOR CORRECTION OFFICERSI. The wages of correction officers should not be lower than the average wage in a given member state.
II. All correction officers be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.
III. Affordable housing should be provided for correction officers living long distance from their place of employment.
IV. Correction officers should be guaranteed at least six fully paid weeks of leave a year.
V. After, at most, 15 years of service correction officers should have a right to a service pension and offered 14 days stay in a spa or rehabilitation institution a year free of charge.
Amendment VIII
SECTION
IV.V - ENTRY INTO FORCEI. Without prejudice to dates set out in Section I. the rest of the requirements shall be fulfilled a year after the entry of this legislation into force.
I. The requirements given in this Act should be fulfilled two years after the entry of this legislation into force.
Amendment IX
ProhibitionRegulation of Private Prisons and Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners and Minimum Standards for Correction Officers ActSECTION I. -
PROHIBITION OFRestrictions on PRIVATE PRISONS
I. Forced labour in private prisons is recognized as a form of slavery. This shall be defined as free labour or labour that is mandatory and not part of a scheme to provide community service or paid work in aid of gaining skills or granting a reduction in sentence length.
II. Buidling of new private prisons is prohibited from the day of entry of this legislation into forceII. Private prisons must provide education , services and facilities that aid in rehabilitation of prisoners.
III. Placing prisoners in private prisons is prohibited from the day of entry of this legislation into force.
IV. All existing private prisons are to be transferred into public ownership no later than six months after the entry of this legislation into force.
III. Private prison companies are prohibited by law from lobbying government or getting involved in politics in any way
Amendment X
SECTION II. - MINIMUM RULES FOR TREATEMENT OF PRISONERS
I. Different categories of prisoners shall be kept on separated premises.
II. The categories referred to in Article I. of Section II. consist of:
a. Men and women
b. Young offenders and adult offenders
c. Convicted prisoners and untried prisoners
d. Civil prisoners and persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence
III. Each prisoner is entitled to a bed and shall have access to restrooms.
IV. Under no conditions can a prisoner be denied access to restrooms as a punishment
V. Each prisoner shall have access to food and water that contain the necessary vitamins and nutrients for a healthy life.
VI. Under no conditions can a prisoner be denied access to food or water as a punishment.
VII. No prisoner can be held in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days except for purposes of protection of the general prison population , in aid of the prevention of spread of extremist views or for protection and safety of the individual prisoner and only when other options have been exhausted.
VIII. Solitary confinement shall be used only as a last resort.
IX. Each prison shall have a library to which the prisoners should have access to. Prisons should encourage prisoners to access the library.
X. Each prisoner shall be guaranteed his or her right to work unless such a right is incompatible with protection of the general prison population , in aid of the prevention of spread of extremist views or for protection and safety of the individual prisoner
XI.Prisoners shall not be paid less than 75% of the lowest legal wage or living wage of state the prisoner is imprisoned in
XII. Prisonerswho are not employed outside of the prison facilityshall receive at least an hour for sports outside.
XIII. All prisoners shall be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.
Amendment XI
SECTION III. - MINIMUM STANDARTS FOR CORRECTION OFFICERS
I. The wages of correction officers should not be lower than the average wage in a given member state.
II. All correction officers be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.
III. Affordable housing should be provided for correction officers living long distance from their place of employment.
IV. Correction officers should be guaranteed at least six fully paid weeks of leave a year.
V. After, at most, 15 years of service correction officers should have a right to a service pension and offered 14 days stay in a spa or rehabilitation institution a year free of charge.
Amendment XII
SECTION IV. - ENTRY INTO FORCE
I. Without prejudice to dates set out in Section I. the rest of the requirements shall be fulfilled a year after the entry of this legislation into force.
II. This legislation shall create the Unified Minimum Prison Standards Organisation or UMPS
III. The agency shall be tasked with reporting on prisoners standards within each country , recommending any necessary changes for compliance with this act and if necessary implementing European Court of Justice cases to enforce the law.
IV.The head of UMPS shall be appointed by the Premier Commissioner and approved by a majority vote of the European Council every year.
AMENDMENT XIII
SECTION II. - MINIMUM RULES FOR TREATEMENT OF PRISONERS
I. Different categories of prisoners shall be kept on separated premises.
II. The categories referred to in Article I. of Section II. consist of:
a. Men and women
b. Young offenders and adult offenders
c. Convicted prisoners and untried prisoners
d. Civil prisoners and persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence
III. Each prisoner is entitled to a bed and shall have access to restrooms.
IV. Under no conditions can a prisoner be denied access to restrooms as a punishment
V. Each prisoner shall have access to food and water that contain the necessary vitamins and nutrients for a healthy life.
VI. Dietary requirements of each prisoner shall be taken into account and appropriate food, containing the necessary vitamins and nutrients for a healthy life, shall be provided to such prisoners.
VII. Under no conditions can a prisoner be denied access to food or water as a punishment.
VIII. No prisoner can be held in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days.
IX. Solitary confinement shall be used only as a last resort.
X. Each prison shall have a library to which the prisoners should have access to. Prisons should encourage prisoners to access the library.
XI. Each prisoner shall be guaranteed his or her right to work.
XII. Prisoners who are not employed outside of the prison facility shall receive at least an hour for sports outside.
XIII. All prisoners shall be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.
AMENDMENT XIV
Replace all references to "private prisons" to "prisons operating on a for-profit basis"
Amendment XV
XII.
All prisoners shall be guaranteed free access to healthcare facilities including psychiatrists.Prisoners are entitled to equal access to healthcare facilities under the law of the member state in which they are incarcerated.
Amendment XVI
SECTION II. -
MINIMUM RULESGUIDELINES FORTREATEMENTTREATMENT OF PRISONERSRemove the first and second articles in Section II and replace them with the following:
I. Based on their status in their country's age of majority, their conviction status and the severity of convicted crimes, prisons are expected to keep prisoners on separate premises.
II. Prisoners are entitled to be kept in separate premises compatible with their gender under the law of the member state in which they are incarcerated. Furthermore, all prisons are expected to protect prisoners of all genders from sex-based and gender-based discrimination.
Amendment XVII
SECTION IV - CREATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PRISON STANDARDS COMMITTEE
I. This legislation shall create the European Union Prison Standards Committee (acronym PRISCOM or EU-PRISCOM)
II. PRISCOM shall be responsible for constructing and publishing a report on prison standards across the European Union once every 18 months.
III. PRISCOM shall consist of a president and seven members from various EU member states, all directly appointed by the Premier Commissioner of the European Union.
IV. PRISCOM reports may not be used to initiate European Court of Justice cases.
V. PRISCOM reports may not be used as evidence in European Court of Justice cases.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
Amendments I and IX, VI and IX, and VII and X contradict each other. If any others do, please inform me as quickly as is possible.
Iras Tilkanas
*Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen8 -
I vote FOR Amendments XII, XIII, XV, XVI, and XVII, ABSTAIN on Amendment XIV, and vote AGAINST all others.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
On behalf of United Duchies I vote FOR Ammendments I, II, X, XI, XII, and XVI and AGAINST all other ammendments
James Mizrachi-Roscoe , Councillor for United Duchies
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I vote FOR Amendment XIII. and AGAINST all other Amendments.
Sofie Čikarová
Councilor for Czech Slavia -
I vote FOR Amendment XIII and AGAINST all other Amendments.
Bp. Karinn Lallana
Councillor for Inquista -
Representing The State of Elthize, I vote FOR the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and seventeenth amendments. I vote AGAINST all amendments not mentioned.
Liam Zachary, Councillor for The State of Elthize
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Voting on amendments will be extended to 23:59 GMT on 12 December 2022.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
Voting on amendments has ended.
Amendment Votes For Votes Against Pass/Fail I 2 3 FAIL II 2 3 FAIL III I 4 FAIL IV 1 4 FAIL V 1 4 FAIL VI 1 4 FAIL VII 1 4 FAIL VIII 1 4 FAIL IX 0 5 FAIL X 1 4 FAIL XI 2 3 FAIL XII 2 3 FAIL XIII 3 2 PASS XIV 0 4 FAIL XV 1 4 FAIL XVI 2 3 FAIL XVII 2 3 FAIL Final voting begins now and will continue unil 23:59 GMT on 28 December 2022.
Iras Tilkanas
Council Speaker and Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen -
On behalf of United Duchies I vote AGAINST this act
James Mizrachi-Roscoe, Councillor for United Duchies -
Representing The State of Elthize, I vote AGAINST this act.
Liam Zachary
Councillor for The State of Elthize
