EU PRISON OVERCROWDING ACTION DAY SET FOR 28 FEBRUARY 2008

(Brussels, 5 February) Prison officers plan for a European action day on ‘Overcrowding in Prisons'. The meeting participants formed a planning group on behalf of all EPSU affiliates in the Prison sector. The date for the Action Day is 28 February 2008. The event will take place in at least 10 EU national capital cities with the maion event in Brussels.

The reasons for the action day:

- Prisons in the EU are on average, housing 25% more prisoners than the prison was designed for. This means that on average, each prison is operating with massive strains on operational and security systems.
- This has a catalogue of health and safety implications (for staff and inmates).
- Overcrowding in prisons is in breach of fundamental human rights.
- Overcrowding, which can often be directly related to underfunding or even budget cuts, is often used, perversely as a pro-privatization argument.

Objectives of Action Day

1. to raise awareness of the human and financial cost of overcrowding, underlining its European ( and global) nature and the human right angle

2. to promote common trade union demands (see below) at national and EU levels

3. to underline the role of social dialogue and importance of trade union rights

4. to reinforce the rights to liberty and the presumption of innocence, equal treatment of all citizens in the EU common area of freedom, security and justice, and EPSU campaign for an EU framework on public services.

Trade union demands on tackling overcrowding (based on EPSU prison action plan - see here for ACTION PLAN language versions)

- 1 detainee 1 cell
- Minimum worker/detainee ratio (at least 1)
- Right to work and live in a healthy and harmless environment
- Stop increase of detainees by introducing or applying non-custodial measures
- Reduce numbers of pre-tried detainees (1 out of 5 detainees)
- Oppose privatisation
- Application of the European Convention on Human rights and EU charter of fundamental rights (due to become legally binding, except for the UK, as part of the reform of the EU Treaty at the end of 2007)
- recognition of the positive role trade unions and social dialogue play to improve working and living conditions in prisons
- sufficient and even distribution of resources for all prison-related services to avoid competition between different public services (e.g. psychiatric hospitals treating offenders, people with mental illness or drug addicts being treated as offenders)

Contact details:

For further direction, please contact Brian Synnott, EPSU Communications Officer
Tel: +32 474 98 96 75 e-mail [email protected]

For further information, please contact EPSU National Administration officer Nadja Salson, or EPSU Health and Social Services officer Tamara Goosens at + 32 2 2501080 or [email protected]

Please note: National EPSU Prison Network Contacts available here - please contact directly