Release from Health-Oriented Prison: Outcome of Health and Justice in Iran’s Legal System and International Human Rights Instruments

Document Type : Original Article from Result of Thesis

Authors

1 PhD. Student of Criminal Law and Criminology Dep., Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran

2 Associate Professor at Criminal Law and Criminology Dep., Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran

3 Assistant Professor at Criminal Law and Criminology Dep., Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran.

Abstract

Many defendants and convicts might be ill before entering a prison or might became ill during a sentence. Some environmental conditions of prisons may also affect the health of inmates; therefore, special attention must be paid to the matter. In addition to the need to observe justice, it is essential to formulate an appropriate strategy for reducing the criminal population of inmates. Therefore, this study aims to address the status of health-oriented deprivation of liberty in Iran’s legal system and international human rights instruments. Analyzing the health-oriented imprisonment approach in Iran’s legal system and international human rights instruments, this study seeks to determine what effects health-oriented imprisonment has on the criminal justice process. In fact, this descriptive analytical study concludes that a manifestation of health-oriented deprivation of liberty is the review and adjustment of policies governing imprisonment and prison management. Hence, criminal policies should result from the link between health and justice. Moreover, analysis of health-oriented deprivation of liberty and attention to the health of inmates can strengthen the trend in community-based punishments.

Highlights

Introduction

Many defendants and convicts might be ill before entering a prison or might became ill when they are serving a sentence. Moreover, some special environmental conditions of prisons may affect the health of inmates. Thus, special attention must be paid to the matter. In addition to the necessity of observing justice, it is essential to formulate an appropriate strategy for reducing the criminal population of prisoners. Health is the most important right of every human being, which must be preserved without any discrimination in terms of gender, race, nationality, religion, and social status. Likewise, freedom is the right with which human beings are born. Some people might lose the right to freedom, at least temporarily, due to their behaviors or actions. However, imprisonment as a punishment today no longer fulfills the goals of reforming and educating criminals and defending society. Regardless of imposing huge economic costs on societies and governments, prisons have become criminal schools. They are now considered places where amateur criminals are placed next to professional criminals. In this regard, criminal experiences and thoughts are easily exchanged. Many proponents of punishment worldwide have come to the conclusion that imprisonment can no longer be a corrective punishment and that criminals cannot necessarily be reformed in prisons. This does not mean that a person is corrected by imprisonment but rather means that imprisonment does more harm to criminals and causes inmates to change from an amateur criminal into a professional one. Imprisonment also has adverse effects on the families of criminals. Furthermore, a major challenge to in the criminal justice system is the concentration of the criminal population in prisons. There has also been a difficult choice between preserving the lives of the accused and convicts and administering justice. Thus, the main question is this: what effects does health-oriented deprivation of liberty have on the criminal justice process?

 

Methodology

This study aims to determine the role of health-oriented deprivation of liberty in Iran’s legal system and international human rights documents by analyzing conceptual frameworks and theoretical foundations. For this purpose, it is necessary to study health-oriented deprivation and its consequent effects based on the type of treatment provided for ill inmates as well as the effects of their illnesses on the criminal justice process. Therefore, this manuscript seeks to develop an approach to the health-oriented deprivation of liberty in Iran’s legal system including the executive regulations of State Prisons and Security and Corrective Measures Organization enacted in 2021. This study also reviews the Code of Criminal Procedure enacted in 2013 and the instructions for organizing prisoners and reducing the prison population approved in 2019. It is also essential to analyze the approach in international human rights instruments to health-oriented incarceration including treaty-based international instruments, charter-based international instruments, and regional human rights instruments.

Results and Discussion

According to the findings of this study, a manifestation of health-oriented imprisonment is the review and adjustment of policies governing imprisonment and prison management. Moreover, a differential policy adopted for ill convicts can be called the health-oriented imprisonment. The goals of deprivation of liberty include mitigating the human, material, health costs as well as reducing the penal population of prisons. Therefore, criminal policies should result from the link between health and justice. Furthermore, health-oriented deprivation and attention to the health of prisoners are expected strengthen the trend in community-based punishments.

 

Conclusion

What can be deduced from a review of domestic law and international human rights instruments? Human rights belong to all individuals and groups of people. Many human rights instruments allow individuals and groups to assert their human rights internationally. These rights do not stop at the prison gates. An inmate sentenced to imprisonment does not renounce his/her human nature and does not lose his/her natural rights. The use of criminal amnesty for ill convicts has also been emphasized. These laws are aimed at improving the way various actors deal with imprisoned criminals in criminal justice systems. Postponement of a sentence, commutation of a sentence, leave and early release are among the accepted human rights standards for the treatment of ill inmates. In fact, the inmates suffering from incurable diseases and those who are in need of intensive care have also been advised to be released and to have access to health care services outside of prisons. Efforts to achieve the right to health of inmates as a human right and to benefit from the deprivation of health are based on the two axes of observing “justice” and achieving “health”. Therefore, the policy of health-oriented deprivation of liberty has been emphasized by Iran’s legal system and international human rights instruments. It can partially solve the problem of inflation in the prison population, for a manifestation of health-oriented deprivation of liberty is the revision and modification of the policies governing imprisonment and prison management. Considering the criminal policies that should result from the link between health and justice, it can be stated that health-oriented deprivation, in line with the goals and missions of criminal justice, can facilitate the policy of liberty deprivation and strengthen the tendency towards community-based punishments. It can also help take care of the health of prisoners in line with the lofty goals of human rights. Also, justice systems should pay close attention to the issue of liberty deprivation and the application of non-prison sentences, especially for ill convicts, in the process of issuing judicial rulings. Consistent with the policy of health-oriented imprisonment, the proposed solution is to employ electronic care technology for convicts. In fact, electronic care provides ill convicts with a great advantage, for they can benefit from medical services outside of prisons; hence, recidivism is prevented.

Keywords

Main Subjects

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