Analysis by Cherly Abou Chabke, Staff Writer

April 14th, 2020

Throughout the 21st century, our world has witnessed barbarous and inhumane actions taken against prisoners, whether in Guantanamo Bay by the US military or in Syria and Iraq by IS groups. Prisoners are amid the most belittled, marginalized and underrepresented groups, whereby authorities frequently exploit this fact in order to abuse their privileges and repudiate them of their fundamental necessities. Violations of prison condition standards are not isolated to any region or period of time; in fact,  governments around the world, from Russia to Venezuela, are failing to uphold the rights of their prisoners. Amidst today’s global pandemic ravaging our globe, this issue has gained colossal importance because of immense threat it poses on prisoners.

Despite the existence of some legislation on the treatment of prison standards, these documents are outdated and fail to address many of the issues facing the world today such as the Coronavirus. It is, therefore, impossible to discuss the issue of prisoners’ rights nowadays without also addressing the issue of prison conditions that disregard the expansion of the virus’ spread among inmates.  

Failing to provide convicts with appropriate medical care in penitentiaries is an ultimate failure to protect human rights and the safety of the overall community. It is, therefore, crucial to acknowledge that without improving the state of health in prisons, it is impossible to reduce the overall spread of the virus.

The Third Geneva Convention was the original document adopted by the international community regarding the rights of prisoners. This convention sets the standards for “humane treatment, adequate feeding, and the delivery of relief supplies” for prisoners, while prohibiting captors from using pressure and force to retrieve information from detainees. The most updated and comprehensive set of guidelines on the treatment of inmates is the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, first adopted in 1955 and revised in 2015. Additionally, non-governmental bodies, like the UN Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee, work to protect the rights of prisoners through advocacy and awareness.

One of the largest issues relating to the treatment of prisoners in the twenty-first century stems from the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City by the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. Following the attacks and the subsequent military conflicts between the US and Afghanistan, President George W. Bush repurposed the prison facility of Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba to hold “enemy combatants” from the Middle East. The government claimed that the prisoners were not being held on US soil and therefore were not protected under the US Constitution. As a result, the cruel treatment of inmates remains predominant in Guantanamo Bay. 

But what may be the consequences should a case of COVID-19 reach this facility? On March 24th, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Guantanamo Bay, hosted by a US navy. Although he wasn’t involved in detention actions, the virus’ presence, combined with the lack of measures that the authorities are undertaking to avoid a larger outbreak, poses huge threats to both the prisoners and the limited rights they have been granted.

The 40 inmates who are currently incarcerated at Guantanamo are aging and their health condition is gradually dwindling, making them particularly vulnerable to the virus. For instance, Saifullah Paracha is 72 years old, has had two heart attacks, and suffers from “arthritis, diabetes, coronary artery disease, gout, psoriasis.”

Concerning political prisoners, these detainees are more likely to be subjected to torture and intimidation methods as a scare tactic and an effort to extract information. Although there is no precise universal definition of a “political prisoner”, they are commonly known as prisoners arrested for their political beliefs or actions; they are detained for possessing certain beliefs and encouraging a specific viewpoint. Many governments believe that torture is an effective way to quell rebellion and deter prisoners from committing additional crimes.

In many nations, including Venezuela, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, the government exercises full control over the courts and can therefore convict defendants without fair trials. This is especially dangerous for political prisoners as they are more likely to be targeted by the government due to their differing political affiliations. They are occasionally denied visitation rights and, in some cases, their lawyers face numerous barriers while preparing for their trial. Politically motivated trials are also often held to different standards than public trials due to the government’s influence.

To make matters worse, Venezuela, which is subject to political turmoil, has its justice system in complete crisis. Not only are levels of violent crime at an all-time high, but the Maduro regime has arrested thousands of protestors who await sentencing in overcrowded police detention facilities. In 2018, “more than 130 people have been killed and 4,800 arrested in clashes between police and demonstrators,” and many of these political prisoners are tortured into submission. With many arrests taking place over the previous years, a considerable majority of inmates are not getting the right due process for their offenses. Consequently, penitentiaries become overcrowded, with cells holding up to 36 prisoners for several days at a time. 

The aforementioned prison conditions are the perfect storm for a Coronavirus outbreak and that is why correctional officials in some countries have begun to take steps to mitigate the risks of the spread of the virus. For example, in Poland the Ministry of Justice plans to extend home sentencing under electronic surveillance. This measure would benefit around 12,000 convicts.

Moreover, countries including the Philippines, Norway, Kuwait and the Netherlands have placed bans on prison visits. Although restricting visits could reduce exposure to the virus, it can also limit prisoners’ access to food because most inmates depend on family members to provide the bulk of their meals. This measure has also led to many problems in some countries like Italy where a rioting across 27 jails occurred after the authorities placed restrictions on visiting rights. It led to 12 deaths, mostly from overdoses on drugs stolen during the disorder. Additionally, after visitor restrictions were tightened in Brazil, hundreds of detainees escaped from four semi-open prisons in São Paulo last week.  

In Mexico, the “Alerta Temprana network” is making an urgent appeal to national and international authorities to comply with the Nelson Mandela rules. It calls for the use of house arrest for certain categories of detainees (political prisoners, eligible for early release, those deemed criminally responsible) and the release of the most vulnerable.

In India, human rights groups and UN experts have repeatedly called for the release as a matter of priority of “those detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views.” Likewise, The Association for the Support of Political Prisoners in Myanmar calls on the government to release prisoners on parole, particularly those awaiting trial.

Further, the growing number of Coronavirus cases in the MENA region has triggered a wave of requests for inmates across the area to be released from unhygienic and overcrowded detention centers, where the danger of virus infection is rife.

In a bid to decrease the danger of COVID-19 outbursts, justice ministries in some countries across the MENA region have commuted jail terms or temporarily released prisoners. Political detainees, however, have been excluded from COVID-19 mitigation measures. “Every government should be looking at how they can empty out their prisons and reduce interactions between prisoners, especially those in group cells,” says Amnesty International’s MENA region director Heba Morayef. “The problem for a lot of the more repressive Middle Eastern governments is that they have become so used to using mass incarceration as a way to silence opposition. That actually places those countries more at risk than others.”

On March 23, around 40 human rights organizations conveyed “grave concern” over the fate of prisoners in Middle East jails, where the health of many prisoners is already compromised. In Syria, the government has issued an amnesty expected to provide for the early release of some criminal detainees. In the case of Egypt, it is known that prisons there are particularly notorious. The country does not tolerate independent examination of its prisons and has not revealed how many individuals it detains. At facilities such as Cairo’s Tora Maximum Security Prison, also known as “the scorpion”, personal hygiene products such as toothbrushes, soap, and shaving kits are not provided to inmates, and essential supplies given by relatives have been confiscated. “We have seen a lot of prisoners let die, although their diseases are manageable,” says Amr Magdi, a MENA researcher at Human Rights Watch. These oppressive governments are using the coronavirus as an opportunity, to “seek emergency powers and more normalization of persecuting free speech.”

On March 18, Egyptian authorities arrested four women activists as they protested to pursue the liberation of unfairly held political prisoners. The following day, the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to release 15 opposition activists that included three key opponents of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The release of prisoners, including those arrested arbitrarily, is the only way to limit overcrowding and save avoidable deaths. Ever since the beginning of the pandemic the hashtag "release the prisoners" (#خرجوا_المساجين) is trending in the country in order to highlight the plight of Egypt’s thousands of political prisoners as well as the insanitary conditions they are living in.

Moreover, according to the Reporters Without Borders, Turkey has also detained at least seven journalists for “spreading panic” after they reported on losses or new cases of COVID-19. Turkey announced it would advance a legal amendment to make about a third of its incarcerated population, entitled for early release, replacing prison time with substitutions such as house arrest.

Iran has temporarily freed about 85,000 people from jail, including political prisoners, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Activists in Saudi Arabia have been ramping up their campaign to underscore the detention of political activists, quoting fears of COVID-19 blowout in deplorable hygienic conditions behind bars. Loujain al-Hathloul, who campaigned against the ban on women driving before being incarcerated in May 2018, has had her trial adjourned due to a momentary postponement of courts triggered by the outbreak of the virus. The “Saudi prisoner rights organization” launched a Twitter campaign in early March 2020 calling for the release of prisoners in the context of the spread of the virus. The hashtag "prisoners are in danger of contracting corona" (#المعتقلون_بخطر_كورونا) has been used to call attention to the perils that the inmates are currently confronting. 

Bahrain lately discharged a "significant portion" of its prison population in order to contain the outbreak of the virus. Nonetheless, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy has underlined that many "prominent political leaders and human rights defenders" have been excluded from this policy and linger behind bars. Human Rights Watch considers these measures insufficient since they do not concern politicians or human rights defenders imprisoned in the country.

“By excluding prominent human rights activists, as well as vulnerable inmates and those declared arbitrarily detained, the government has missed valuable opportunity to demonstrate compassion during an unprecedented international pandemic," mentioned Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the London-based activist group. Last week, the country announced that 901 convicts would be granted a royal pardon “for humanitarian reasons", while the ministry of interior further proclaimed that 585 prisoners would be granted substitute sentences. In Yemen, UN experts are calling on all parties to the conflict to release detainees and political prisoners to "prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the country."

Whereas in Lebanon, the government provided large quantities of disinfectants to avoid the blowout of the virus in prisons and on April 9th, Middle East Airlines Chairman Mahmoud Hout pointed out the necessity of passing out a “full comprehensive amnesty law to end the injustice in Lebanon’s prisons”.

Consequently, even though the invisible enemy is prompting Middle East Regimes to release prisoners, the majority of arrested journalists and activists remain behind bars. 

There are more than 10 million men, women and children in prisons worldwide according to a 2019nreport on Global Prison Trends, jails are overcrowded in at least 121 countries. Overcrowding in penitentiaries ultimately implies that it is impossible to respect the guidelines around individual towels, social distancing and hand washing with soap. Protecting the health of our prisoners is protecting the health of our global community. It is time to free the political detainees and moderate the risks of virus outbreaks.

‘You can never confine a political activist. Even if you detain their body, you can’t arrest their mind’.  The occurrence of a pandemic, as well as the measures required to retain it, utterly clash with the way prisoners are stacked behind bars. Amidst this global crisis, governments across the world must allocate all their resources to ensure safe social distancing within the prison, not only in accordance with prisoners’ rights but as a measure towards universal recovery. Coronavirus is a tragedy for jails - releasing the harmless from prisons now, will save our lives.