Objective: Strengthening the capacity of a country to manage a viable, safe, secure, and humane prison system.
Importance: Part of sustainable, nationally-owned peace-building efforts and preventing relapse into conflict.
UN Role: United Nations corrections officers assist national prison authorities by addressing prison security challenges, overcrowding, infrastructure needs, training national prison personnel, and developing prison policies.
Handbook Purpose
Provides guidance to UN corrections officers and partners assisting national prison authorities.
Offers a framework to maintain good order in prisons and ensure safe and humane control of prisoners.
Contributions and Development
Joint Responsibility: Developed with input from UN departments, corrections experts, academics, and policymakers.
Funded by: The government of Canada.
Consultant: Drury Allen, who worked on the handbook for two years.
Acknowledgments
Contributions from corrections officers in various UN missions.
Lessons learned from field missions in South Sudan, Liberia, DRC, and Haiti.
Key Concepts
Good Order: Set of rules ensuring prisoners' safety and cooperation through routines.
Control: Use of security infrastructure, equipment, and force to manage prison incidents.
Dynamic Security: Active staff-prisoner interaction to understand and assess prisoners.
Static Security: Infrastructure like walls, barriers, and equipment for restraining prisoners.
Contingency Planning: Anticipating incidents and planning resolutions with available resources.
Incident Management: Ability to assess, contain, and resolve incidents, preserving life and safety.
Use of Force Continuum: Guidelines for escalating force relative to prisoner resistance.
Principles of Prison Security
Good Order and Control: Daily focus on maintaining good order and at times increasing control to manage incidents.
Operational Frameworks: Management systems, policies, and processes to support security.
Accountability: Internal and external assessments to monitor performance and maintain order.
Maintaining Good Order
Operational Frameworks: Translate constitutional and legal frameworks into policies governing prisons.
Accountability: Establish processes for internal and external assessments.
Operational Capacity and Competence: Adequate staffing, training, and skill development.
Dynamic Security Elements: Staff presence, interaction, observation, movement control, and searching.
Contingency Planning: Preparing for emergencies and unexpected incidents.
Maintaining Control
Static Security: Infrastructure and equipment for containing prisoners.
Incident Management: Steps include responding, isolating, reporting, identifying resources, managing, resuming normalcy, and reviewing actions.
Use of Force: Guidelines based on necessity, proportionality, legality, and accountability.
Annexes
Common Causes of Disturbances: Systemic factors like overcrowding, inadequate staff, and poor conditions can lead to incidents.
Lessons Learned: Recommendations from mission visits to improve capacity-building, security policies, and training.
Bibliography
References and additional resources related to prison management, human rights, and security policies.