The Bar Association is concerned about the violation of the rights of prisoners

The Bar Association (BA) said this Saturday it is “highly concerned” about daily violations of the human rights of prisoners in Portuguese prisons, expressed in an international report.

This position of the OA and its Human Rights Commission is outlined in a note sent to the Lusa agency after the 2022 World Human Rights Report by Human Rights Watch, which singled out Portugal for poor prison conditions, overcrowding and lack of detention conditions. adequate medical care for male and female prisoners.

The order, which previously expressed the same position, also refers to the 2023 annual report of the Directorate General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP), according to which about 70% of Portuguese prisons have an inadequate infrastructure condition, making it difficult to maintain a humane and safe environment for prisoners.

Recently, the order emphasizes, during a visit to the Ponta Delgada prison, lawyers discovered that there was a general cell for 37 people (a place where there were already 60 people), and on another floor there was also a room with four women. who are confined to this premises 22 hours a day due to the dangers of living in common areas with other male prisoners.

In a document sent to Lusa this Saturday afternoon, the OA reports that the director of the Ponta Delgada prison at the time reported that there were 21 incidents in this department in a year and a half.

The order adds that in its latest report, the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNP) explicitly states that “prison medical personnel repeatedly ignore their obligations to report and note evidence of ill-treatment of men or women.” women prisoners, indicating a state of complete vulnerability from which prisoners are excluded.”

Another “important issue” highlighted by the OA is “the excessive use of detention measures instead of other measures provided for by law” and “as a result of this, Portugal, which according to the Global Peace Index in 2023 was ranked 7th.” The safest country in the world, and the fourth safest in Europe, has overcrowded prisons, with an incarceration rate of 128 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest rates in Western Europe.”

According to the position of the representative body of lawyers, “among the main problems is also the lack of resources to monitor measures to enforce the sentence.”

“The lack of formal and specific monitoring and follow-up programs jeopardizes the effective and ongoing reintegration of prisoners into society,” the order said, highlighting that only 25% of prisoners participate in social assistance programs, according to DGRSP. reintegration.

The OA states that “one of the most glaring gaps in the Portuguese penal system is the lack of legal assistance” for prisoners while serving their sentences, “which clearly contradicts the protection of their rights, freedoms and guarantees.”

“The OA has long advocated for the creation of its own remote legal advice scale, included in the system of access to the law and courts, without the need for prior approval from Social Security, which quickly ensures effective access to legal advice for citizens. contingent of prisoners, given their particularly fragile situation,” the document says.

In conclusion, the OA considers that “The Portuguese penal system faces serious and difficult problems that need to be analyzed and solved together, in a holistic and comprehensive manner, and the presence of lawyers throughout this process is absolutely necessary, because only then can they fully guarantee constitutional prisoners’ rights.”