“Prison Is Not For Me”
June 22, 2012

VII. Recommendations

To Strengthen South Sudan’s Human Rights Framework

  • The government should formally acknowledge that South Sudan succeeds to all the human rights treaties to which Sudan is a party.
  • The government should take the necessary steps to ensure the prompt ratification, without reservations, of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC).

To Improve Coordination among Rule of Law Actors

  • The President of the Republic of South Sudan should ensure effective inter-ministerial collaboration on the recommendations outlined below, through the use of existing mechanisms or by establishing a new working group.

General Measures to Reduce Arbitrary Detention

  • The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and the judiciary should review the files of all prisoners to ensure that every prisoner has a file that includes complete and accurate information of the prisoner’s name, age, reason for and date of detention, and length of any sentence. They should ensure that all prisoners are legally detained.
  • The judiciary should order the immediate release of any prisoner who is detained without clear legal authority, lacks necessary paperwork, is in proxy detention, is in detention for failing to fulfill a contractual obligation, or who has overstayed permitted remand periods or a sentence of imprisonment.
  • In order to address the current overcrowding, and pending law reform, the Ministry of Justice and the judiciary should consider granting early release to any prisoner whose detention is not on the basis of an appropriate judicial sentence for a serious offense following a fair trial. Prisoners serving sentences for adultery or convicted by customary courts of offenses such as “pregnancy” should be given early release.
  • The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and the judiciary should develop and implement early release and alternatives to imprisonment such as community service and probation programs.
  • The South Sudan Human Rights Commission should increase prison and police cell monitoring. It should investigate and publish reports on arbitrary detentions and violations of due process rights.
  • International development partners should support special initiatives that address arbitrary detentions and violations of due process rights. Such initiatives could include a prisoner census, case review panels, or pilot projects on alternatives to imprisonment such as community service and probation.
  • International development partners should continue to support training of rule of law actors, including traditional chiefs.
  • The United Nations Mission in South Sudan should ensure its corrections advisors work closely with Prisons Service staff to address individual cases of concern, as well as systemic flaws and inhumane prison conditions.

To Address Concerns Related to Pre-trial Detention

  • The Ministry of Justice and the judiciary should grant release pending trial for any prisoner whose detention is not justified as necessary to ensure his or her appearance at trial for a serious offense.
  • The National Legislative Assembly should amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to require that criminal suspects appear before a judge within 24 hours of arrest, as required by the Transitional Constitution.
  • The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and the judiciary should issue clear instructions for police, prosecutors, and judges to uphold the constitutional requirement that all criminal suspects appear before a judge within 24 hours of arrest. Procedures should be promulgated to implement this rule.
  • The judiciary should exercise oversight over pre-trial detentions as required under the Code of Criminal Procedure, by ensuring that remand detention orders are renewed every seven days and that permission is sought from the Court of Appeal for pre-trial periods that exceed six months.

To Improve Access to Legal Aid

  • The Ministry of Justice should take steps, in collaboration with the Bar Association, to implement an effective legal aid scheme across South Sudan. All prisoners sentenced to death, children, and prisoners with mental disabilities should be provided counsel and the right to appeal as a matter of priority.

To Address Concerns Related to Imprisonment by Customary Courts

  • The National Legislative Assembly should amend the Judiciary Act and the Local Government Act to ensure adequate monitoring and supervision of customary courts by the judiciary, to clarify and limit the jurisdiction of customary courts over criminal matters, and to establish clear sentencing limits for customary courts.
  • The National Legislative Assembly should pass legislation that requires customary court proceedings and sanctions to comply with fair trial standards.

To End the Practice of Proxy Detention

  • The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and judiciary should issue clear instructions prohibiting the detention of persons in proxy of criminal suspects and should order their immediate release.

To Address Concerns Related to Imprisonment for Marital and Sexual Offenses

  • The National Legislative Assembly should amend the Penal Code so that people are not imprisoned for adultery.

To End Imprisonment of People Due to Actual or Perceived Mental Disabilities

  • The National Legislative Assembly should pass legislation to prohibit the incarceration in prison of people solely on the basis of mental disability and to regulate the commitment and discharge of people with mental disabilities to a medical facility in compliance with international standards.
  • The judiciary should issue clear instructions prohibiting judges from ordering detention in prison of people with mental disabilities who have not committed a crime.
  • The Ministry of Heath should, in consultation with disabled peoples’ organizations, develop a national plan for the provision of mental health services, including a medical facility for individuals with mental disabilities and community-based treatment, such as outpatient services.
  • The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Interior should urgently increase the capacity of the psychiatric ward in Juba Teaching Hospital with the goal of removing individuals with mental disabilities from Juba Central Prison and making available services in a hospital setting.
  • International development partners should, in cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Interior and in consultation with disabled people’s organizations, support the establishment of community-based mental health services and a mental health facility.

To End Imprisonment for Failure to Pay Debt

  • The Ministry of Justice and judiciary should issue clear instructions prohibiting indeterminate and indefinite detention for failure to pay debts.
  • The Ministry of Justice and the judiciary should examine the practice of imprisonment for non-payment of debt with a view to abolishing it. So long as imprisonment remains available as a legal consequence for non-payment of debt, it should be strictly limited to situations of non-fulfillment of a court ordered payment, and should only be used as a last resort and for as short a period as possible, and in any event no longer than the six-month limit on imprisonment for debt currently in the Code of Civil Procedure.

To Address Concerns Related to the Imprisonment of Children in Conflict with the Law

  • The Prisons Service should immediately separate children and adults in prisons, during the day and at night.
  • The Ministry of Interior should work with the Ministry of Education to provide access to primary school education for all children in prison.
  • The Ministry of Interior should take steps to establish a juvenile facility where children in conflict with the law may benefit from education and rehabilitation.
  • The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and judiciary should take steps to ensure that police, prosecutors, judges, and prison officials know and implement the standards in the Child Act, particularly relating to pre-trial detention and the sentencing of children, and that incarceration of children is used as a last resort and only for serious crimes.
  • The Prisons Service should ensure probation officers are assigned to handle child cases. They should advocate for early release, bail, probation, or other alternatives to imprisonment.
  • The Ministry of Interior should collaborate with the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare in the development, expansion and implementation of non-custodial alternatives to imprisonment for children in conflict with the law.
  • International development partners should, in cooperation with government counterparts in the Ministries of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Justice, and Interior, support the establishment of a juvenile facility where children in conflict with the law may benefit from education and rehabilitation.

To Improve Prison Conditions

  • The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Interior should clarify responsibility for providing health care and medicine for prisoners, ensure improved coordination, and develop a detailed plan for the improvement of prison health services and conditions.
  • The Ministry of Interior should immediately transfer all prisoners who are seriously ill and cannot be treated in detention to medical facilities for treatment.
  • The National Legislative Assembly and the Ministry of Finance should ensure that the national budget allocates sufficient funds to the Prisons Service to create conditions consistent with international standards, particularly with regards to food, health, and sanitation.
  • The Prisons Service should prohibit corporal punishment in its standing orders and regulations. It should ensure the enforcement of the prohibition by adopting a zero-tolerance policy against its use, holding prison staff accountable for using corporal punishment, and providing prison officers with additional training in the prohibition of corporal punishment.
  • The Prisons Service should prohibit the use of chains and leg irons in its standing orders and regulations. It should end the practice of applying other forms of restraints as punishment. Restraints, when used for security measures, should be used only when absolutely necessary, and then for the shortest period of time possible.
  • The Ministry of Interior should take all possible steps to improve infrastructure, food, health care, and hygiene in prisons.
  • The Ministry of Interior should clarify the responsibilities of the Prisons Service and the Police Service with respect to the health care of remand prisoners.
  • The Prisons Service should establish fair and transparent systems for remunerating inmates for their labor, administering prisoner accounts, and accounting for funds raised through prison labor.
  • International development partners should ensure interventions promote humane conditions inside prisons, including by monitoring newly constructed facilities to ensure they are used in a manner that promotes fulfillment of basic rights of detained persons, and by providing supplemental hygiene items, food, and medical supplies.