Key Recommendations

For Immediate Implementation

• The government should formally acknowledge that South Sudan succeeds to all human rights treaties to which Sudan is a party.
• 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 Ministry of Justice and 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 to 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 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 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 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;
  • amend the Penal Codes so that people are not imprisoned for adultery;
  • 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; and
  • 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 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 detention 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.
• The Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and the judiciary should issue clear instructions prohibiting detention of persons in proxy of criminal suspects and 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, 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 in the Code of Civil Procedure.
• 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 Health should, in consultation with disabled persons’ 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 options such as outpatient services.
• 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.