International organizations and human rights in Brazilian prisons

¶ … International Organizations Impact Incarceration and Prison Management in Brazil

People incarcerated in prisons from developing countries like Brazil face long years of confinement in dirty and cramped quarters. Some of the harsh conditions the prisons present include inadequate hygiene, insufficient food allocations, and no clothing or other basic amenities. Even as the conditions do not form a pattern across the continent, the prevalence hits higher concerns requiring intervention from international organizations. The interactions allow resident prison managers to address inadequacies through prison reform and increased attention towards human rights. Various barriers include state secrecy, absence of public interest, and weak civil society inhibiting collection of sustainable information on the deplorable prisons. The veil of ignorance on the kinds of prison conditions that fuel abuse and neglect of people incarcerated makes it imperative for investigation of prison trends. International organizations generate information regarding issues that affect the penal system of the continent.

The paper outlines various historical establishments of evolution of prisons in Brazil. The essay examines various areas that prisons in Brazil fail to address the minimal threshold for human rights provisions. The recognition that developing countries have profound diversity ensures an inclusion of common abuse themes for human rights irrespective of the continental examination. The most apparent shortcomings include poor prison governance and resources; poor prisons conditions and overcrowding; and failure to safeguard rights of persons detained before trial. There is untapped potential to engage in alternative sentencing as well as unfulfilled rehabilitation mandates. The essay then considers various viable possible oversight and reform sources. International organizations under focus include the United Nations Office Drugs Crime. The paper makes reference to the contributions of United Nations.

In the past, Brazil prisons encounter a broad range of challenges such as good governance deficits, limited funding, and other inefficiencies. The shortcomings result in overcrowding and abusive prison environments. Several international organizations and governments are committed to improving the scope of incarceration through promotion of prisoners' rights. Developing countries have a whole range of innovative institutions and instruments protecting the human rights of people behind bars. They lack the resources and political will to implement the pronouncements into sustainable practices.

United Nations Office Drugs Crime

Since 2002, the Commission has operated through the Developing countries Union auspices. The programs implemented play significant roles in the improvement of prison conditions across various developing countries including Brazil . One of the criteria used by which this Commission is contributing to the prisoners' lives betterment. Efforts include the adjudication and investigation of any rights violation. The Commission investigates developing countries' prison conditions based on its special rapporteurs (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2008). Other programs involve the establishment of focus groups as well as adjudication of respective cases. The Commission queries member governments and develops resolutions regarding prison conditions across the continent. Several appointments of working groups and special rapporteurs hold importance for the prison reform area in developing countries. For instance, the Commission has a Rapporteur working on Rights of Women across Developing countries and the Death Penalty Working Group. Other parties include Human and Peoples' Rights Working Group and Indigenous Populations/Communities Working Group on in Developing countries and Human Rights Defenders Special Rapporteur in developing countries. Instruments managing regional and international human rights concepts play integral roles in working of international organizations and subsidiary organs.

The integrations promote the implication and review procedures of their works across developing countries prisons. For instance, the Commission brings onboard the Charter on Welfare and Rights of the Child, UN Standard Minimum Rules for Prisoners and the UN Body of Principles for All Person Protection. Other treaties include International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Rights of Women Protocol (Trebilcock & Daniels, 2009). In 1995, the Commission installed the Developing countries Prisons' Resolution that extended the protections and rights from the United Nations Office Drugs CrimeCharter to detainees and prisoners. The Commission works towards emphasizing on individual state accountability in caring for prisoners. It requires guarantee that minimal standards of rights to prisoners are met. The Commission is yet to establish coherent standards through guidelines to the levels and elements of prisoners' rights violations. In the cases, the organization hears complainant's evidence for further evaluation based on government's responses.

In times that governmental response is absent, the Commission finds outcomes in the complainant's favor. However, the organization has adopted various resolutions regarding the scope of prisons in developing countries. This includes Resolutions to adopt of the Ouagadougou Plan of action and declaration to accelerate reforms in prison and penal law in Developing countries. The instruments impact recommendations that reduce overcrowding make prisons more self-sufficient, promote reintegration and rehabilitation programs, and make prison administrators more accountable for respective actions. The tools encourage best practices; promote the Developing countries Charter on Human Rights while supporting establishment of the Basic Rights Charter for Prisoners in collaboration with the UN (Adetula, Adetula & Fatusin, 2010).

There are several special rapporteurs appointed by United Nations. Their work includes evaluation of prisoners' rights to Prisons and Conditions of Detention Special Rapporteur appointed back in 1996. The appointment came based on developing countries Charter on Peoples' Rights that permitted the organization to promote and investigate human rights within the continent. The organization fulfilled the mandate through all appropriate methods stipulated in the Charter. Such benefits from the appointment of the SRP are associated with the promotion function of the Commission conducted within the public. The purpose of SRPs is inspecting and reporting on the prison conditions as a way of protecting the rights of the people held in prisons. SRP researches the prison conditions and reports to Developing countries governments on the status of the penal systems (Trebilcock & Daniels, 2009). The position entertains further complaints on prison conditions through reporting to the Commission yearly. SRPs also propose relevant solutions in addressing challenges within Brazil's prisons. The SRP trains personnel in law enforcement such as police, prison administrators and guards, as well as lawyers towards improving prison conditions. Special Rapporteur engages in work through Brazil visitations, inspection of prisons, and reporting on the conditions. There are provisions for follow-up visits.

All visits to countries adhere to the human rights agenda. SRPs meet government leaders and follow press conferences prior making visitations to various police holding cells, reform schools, and prisons. For each of the sites, SRPs meet administrators, tour the facilities, and meet inmates in presence of the prison officials. Immediately SRPs conclude their visits; they meet government officials to table recommendations on major issues (Othmani -- & Bessis, 2008). Final draft reports are developed with government responses and made available to the government only. However, this should change to allow residents and citizens in Brazil to access the reports. Irrespective of having the reports varying across countries, the reports from the SRPs face an overwhelming call for an increase in resources dedicated to facilities in prisons (Jewkes, Crewe & Bennett, 2012). Special Rapporteur has frequently called for the improvement of prison officials' training in human rights. SRP reports highlight the essence of having improved relations for intra-prisoner elements as a way of protecting human rights. Further to the examination of prison facilities, SRPs also analyze national penal legislation for purposes of ensuring compliance with Brazilian and international laws. Reports of such examinations are later presented to the Commission. However, the outcomes of the exercise should be made public as well. In practice, SRP equates useful tools in the protection of prisoners' rights. There are several barriers hindering scope and theoretical import. SRPs are strapped through the virtue of double-billing and under-funding as the Commissioner (Adetula, Adetula & Fatusin, 2010). From this, SRPs only manage to visit few states in Brazil. SRPs also face constraints of the visits as such trips need consent of receiving states. Receiving SRPs needs higher levels of commitment including following subsequent recommendations. If SRPs are going to attain their full potential as proposed by the parent human rights institution, more states should accommodate visitation requests.

Restoring Dignity in Prisons in Brazil

From the late 1990s, the profile of prison reforms continues to take root courtesy of efforts of governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The contributions have established abuses that result from overcrowding within prisons in Brazil against human rights frameworks. Various strategies targeting the protection of prisoners' rights are deployed across most developing countries besides Brazil. The approaches allow national trends to implement alternative techniques to sentencing and devolution of regional attempts on oversight and policy commitments (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2008).

A single approach to avoiding overcrowding and respecting human rights in such prisons is implementing alternative sentencing. Several penal systems in developing countries have started the practice. While facts are not yet feasible to generalize on the few positive experiences under particular conditions, the strategic indicators suggest that such practices require detailed application and study. The common alternative sentencing forms are those that people guilty of petty offenses face sentences limited to community service instead of prison time. The practice will reduce overcrowding of prisons such countries (Adetula, Adetula & Fatusin, 2010). Alternative sentencing requires proper administration and oversight, and these are costs that resource-poor developing countries are yet to meet. In the end, compensation and fines are the main proposals of alternative incarceration sentences.

Shortages in funding are only one side of the obstacles towards invoking alternative sentencing in developing countries. Various administrative hurdles are eminent through the integration and implementation of the programs and the maintenance of harmonization processes of diverse interests of groups. The groups include the media, criminals, victims, political parties, and the public especially where the sentences inhibit jail time (Othmani -- & Bessis, 2008). The ascertained definitions of crimes against their corresponding alternative sentencing helps in gauging political viability of programs in alternative sentencing for purposes of alleviating prison overcrowding. Detailed implementation challenges to alternative sentencing are inclusive of absence of transparent governance and increased corruption rates in many developing countries. Success of sentencing schemes depends on the transparency and integrity of the major criminal justice system. Most criminal justice systems in developing countries are riddle with corruption without taking strategic steps towards addressing the problem (Austin, 2008). Alternative sentencing does not constitute continental-cure for the woes besetting such prisons. On the contrary, the efforts of international organizations, governments, individuals, and NGOs are useful in eradicating the barriers to practice. Alternative sentencing is an important component of mitigating prison overcrowding.

Rehabilitation

Among the different goals incarceration aims including deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, public disapproval, rehabilitation, and reintegration, there are more elusive and controversial goals in developing countries. Rehabilitation remains a difficult approach to be implemented in many developing countries because of resource shortage. Under-funding and overcrowding hamper proper implementation of sustainable rehabilitation schemes. The fact that rehabilitation is the strategic goal of penal policymakers in developing countries misappropriated politically will hinders ultimate realization (Jewkes, Crewe & Bennett, 2012). The concept of rehabilitation forms a critical part of various regional instruments targeting the improvement of prison conditions across Brazilian prisons. Achieving such efforts becomes harder due to inadequate points of measuring lack of consensus on the measurements and standards that gauge success (Adetula, Adetula & Fatusin, 2010).

On the other hand, the practice of modern environments reveals various commonalities of successful programs focused towards eliminating unemployment related skills; insufficient flexibility to address identified needs, and diversified multi-dimensional services. The efforts aim at addressing wide scopes of factors such as the ongoing follow-up and monitoring efforts coupled with a balance between quantity and quality. Collaborating with communities and families ensures success of restorative justice components and offenders easily accept responsibility. Setting minimum durations ranging between nine and twelve months facilitates the development (Othmani -- & Bessis, 2008). While reintegration and rehabilitation programs are relatively new to developing countries, positive developments evince various successes that merit increased support for the initiatives.

Prison Resources and Governance

Conditions depicted in the above analysis amount to scarce resources and poor governance. Resource scarcity is a significant challenge that faces many prisons today. The economies of developing nations have many social needs, the protection of prisoners does not strike as a top priority in the to-do lists. The consensus of social opinion alludes that prisons are loci for punishment, deterrence, and detention and not reintegration and rehabilitation. In the end, Brazilian prisons face higher recidivism rates that strains financial and social resources of the impoverished nations. Resource scarcity translates into deprivation of the prisoners' rights (Baer & Ravneberg, 2008). Adequate prison governance is hard to establish and measure as it evokes minimal research on the identification of good practices in Brazil. The situations worsen in areas of management, proper function, and administration. International instruments and organizations highlight international consensus regarding topics of acceptable conditions, treatment, and objectives of criminals within prisons (Jewkes, Crewe & Bennett, 2012). The increase of crime in Brazil and a decrease in resources causes a belief that overall imprisonment complicates discipline and conspires to render the prison practices and conditions outright atrocious in various nations.

Conclusion

International media thrives on broadcasting challenges facing developing countries. Various articles have gone as far as labeling the countries as "hopeless." However, the scope of prisoners' rights forms ground for shifting focus albeit slow and isolated growth rates. It is hyperbolical that the global prisoner abuse atmosphere and hopelessness of the developing countries is taking the front in the protection and promotion of prisoners' rights. The progress does not suggest that not all problems facing prisons in developing countries like Brazil are dire. For inane, hundreds of political detainees continue languishing in cells across the countries. In countries like Algeria, prisoners and detainees are subjected to electric shocks, beaten, or forced to drink dirty water, chemicals, or urine. The capital gains that Brazil have made in managing prison abuse face the threat of globalization. The global trends towards intensive criminal penalties are spurring on the U.S.-led War due to Terror and turn back the progress on the reforms prison systems have made.

In addition, the elements of overcrowding are not effectively tackled in Brazilian prison system. Ideally, prisoners from developing countries continue suffering disease, death, humiliation, and violence due to heaping into cells without regard to limits of capacity. The increment of imprisonment rates and duration of sentences exacerbates the phenomenon. Overcrowding is a major threat to the prisoners and the public (Trebilcock & Daniels, 2009). The problems can be solved through urgent means than the current approaches. The international organizations can be empowered through undertaking several measures. The most impactful approaches include increase in financial resources, increase of NGOs' communication and integrations with other international organizations. Broader liaison programs between resident commissions and affected countries will build on ideal integration of the commissions' recommendations (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2008). This is an ideal improvement of structures and legality of the mandate. In the rise of drastic challenges like resource scarcity, several developing countries persist on reforming their prison systems through reduction of prison populations. Others are working on promoting and protecting prisoners' rights. Reform mindsets and promotion of rights continues to sweep across developing countries' prison systems. However, good intentions alone cannot suffice because instant change is necessary to ground levels. The critical question is on the ways of implementing policies with far pronunciation (Friedman & Parenti, 2013).