On 26 October 2000, the European Court of Human Rights solemnly affirmed, in a judgment in the case of Kudla v. Poland, the right of every person in prison to conditions of detention consistent with respect for human dignity. This entailed an obligation for states to ensure that the health of the individual is adequately ensured, in particular through the provision of the necessary medical care, and that imprisonment is carried out in decent living conditions. Beyond health and conditions of detention, over the last twenty years the European Court has developed a prison law which encompasses almost all aspects of life behind bars: security and discipline, family ties, contact with the outside world, access to information, the right to vote, etc.
On the anniversary of the Kudla judgment, EPLN gathered the views and analysis of the protagonists of the Kudla case, people in prison, activists, lawyers, prison staff, judges and researchers. In the first chapter they analyse the context of the new ECtHR case law on the prison issues at the time of the Kudla judgment, as well as the stakes of the recognition of prisoners’ rights.
Look at the website www.20.EuropeanPrisonLaw.info
