Situation of lifesentenced prisoners Preliminary remarks Life sentences 67. In the 11th General Report on its activities in 2000, the CPT briefly addressed the issue of life-sentenced and other long-term prisoners. In particular, it expressed concern that such prisoners were often not provided with appropriate material conditions, activities and human contact, and that they were frequently subjected to special restrictions likely to exacerbate the deleterious effects of their longterm imprisonment. The Committee considers that the time is ripe to review the situation of life-sentenced prisoners in Europe based upon the experience it has built up on visits over the last 15 years and taking also into consideration developments at the European and universal levels, notably Recommendation Rec (2003) 23 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the management by prison administrations of life sentence and other long-term prisoners.6 68. For the CPT, a life sentence is an indeterminate sentence imposed by a court in the immediate aftermath of a conviction for a criminal offence which requires the prisoner to be kept in prison either for the remainder of his or her natural life or until release by a judicial, quasi-judicial, executive or administrative process which adjudges the prisoner to no longer present a risk to the public at large. The minimum period required to be served before a prisoner may first benefit from conditional release varies from country to country, the lowest being 12  years (e.g. Denmark and Finland) and 15  years (e.g. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland) and the highest being 40 years (e.g. Turkey, in the case of certain multiple crimes). The majority of countries imposing life sentences have a minimum period of between 20 and 30 years. In the United Kingdom jurisdictions, the minimum period to be served in prison is determined at the time of sentence by the trial judge; the law does not provide for an absolute minimum period in this regard. 6. See also the European Prison Rules (2006) and the recently revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules - 2015). ► Page 33