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Authorship rights of prisoners and detainees must be protected
Date : 2003.08.26 00:00:00 Hits : 1764
NHRC issues recommendation to the Minister of Justice to rescind provisory article requiring warden’s prior permission
 
On 25 August 2003, the 47th plenary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Commission issued a recommendation to the Minister of Justice to fully guarantee inmates and detainees’ rights to author letters and other writings by 1) by rescinding article 33: clause 3 of the current law, which is a provisory clause that subjects inmates and detainees’ right to write to the “permission of the warden,” and 2) by amending the related enforcement order and guidelines to fully uphold inmate and detainees’ right to write.
 
The NHRC examined the current legal instruments regulating inmate and detainees’ right to author letters and writings, and found that the current law, the enforcement order, the guidelines regulating confined persons’ writing, and the regulation on discipline and punishment of confined persons require that inmates and detainees obtain the prior permission of the warden, and inmates or detainees under investigation or disciplinary measures were restricted, in principle, from writing. In particular, because prisoners and detainees cannot freely lodge a petition, file a suit, press charges, or file a complaint with the NHRC, such legal instruments are problematic in that they can restrict inmates and detainees from obtaining remedies to safeguard their rights.
 
The NHRC considers the right to author writing as fundamental to freedom of expression and a means to actualize constitutional rights including: the right to dignity (article 10), freedom of speech and freedom of the press (article 21), and freedom of learning and intellectual rights (article 22). Moreover, the NHRC sees the authorship rights as a precondition to the real attainment of the highest nonphysical rights including the rights to petition, to file a complaint, and to press charges in a court of law.
In order to make clear and finite the restrictions on inmates and detainees’ authorship rights, the current laws were amended in 1999. However, article 33: clause 3: paragraph 1, which stipulates that inmates and detainees first receive the warden’s permission, violates their authorship rights in actuality. Thus, the NHRC issued the recommendation to rescind article 33: 3: 1 as well as to rescind the provisory article precluding certain persons from receiving permission, and further the NHRC recommended that the law be amended to allow inmates and detainees the appropriate place and time to write as well as to lift quotas on writing implements (currently at 1 pen and 30 sheets of paper per person.)
 
The NHRC recommendation follows an examination of authorship rights brought in response to complaints petitioned by prisoners and detainees. Since the establishment of the NHRC, up to 162 complaints (as of July 2003) relating to writing rights were filed; however, all were rejected for various reasons. The volume of complaints filed suggested that authorship rights (in confinement) are a key area requiring review and fundamental reform. Thus, the NHRC undertook a comparative study looking at legislative machinery (for prisoners and detainees’ writing rights) in other countries and after discussion at the NHRC plenary, came down with the recommendation for reform. The NHRC will continue its efforts to review conditions of prisoners and detainees to uphold their basic rights.

 


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