RISK FACTORS DERIVING FROM AN OVEREMPHASIS ON SECURITY the Judiciary scheduled a hearing of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights entitled ‘Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences’.111 In February 2013, the Federal Bureau of Prisons agreed to a comprehensive and independent assessment of its use of solitary confinement in the nation’s federal prisons.112 Since then, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has reportedly reduced its segregated population by nearly 25 per cent and closed two of its Special Management Units, a form of segregated housing. The National Institute of Corrections reportedly assisted states like Colorado113 and Mississippi to reform their solitary confinement practices, with Mississippi reducing its segregated population by more than 75 per cent, which resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in prison violence.114 7. The overuse of technology and surveillance The use of technology in prisons can make a positive contribution to the safety of staff and detainees and reduce the risk of abuse. This is the case, for example for metal detector devices used to replace strip searches, video cameras installed in courtyards to reduce risks of inter-prisoner violence, or video conferencing with courts to accelerate judicial procedures.115 The presence of cameras can also deter violence or other inappropriate behaviour by staff and other detainees. However, the indiscriminate use of high-tech systems, on a permanent basis, in particular constant CCTV surveillance in cells,116 can constitute a serious infringement of the right to privacy. Research in a UK prison showed that a sense of being monitored contributed to an ‘atmosphere of constant suspicion, paranoia, and self-conscious reflection’ leading prisoners to suppress and lose touch with their identities.117 Furthermore, audio-visual surveillance must not be used to infringe the confidentiality and professional secrecy of detainees’ meetings with lawyers, or their right to privacy during medical examinations. Audio-visual transmissions also tend to be over-relied upon as a means to prevent self-harm and suicide. Video surveillance, and especially video recording, should therefore be accompanied by safeguards including in relation to storage of and access to the footage.118 There is also a risk that an increased use of technology, including high-security architecture and mechanical security mechanisms such as automatic gate locking/ unlocking systems, replace human contact between detainees and staff and lead to the dehumanisation of places of detention. For example, in 2012, the South Korean government was reported to be testing robot prison guards at a facility in Pohang. The robots are equipped with cameras, a microphone, and software to analyse signs of danger emanating from prisoners in order to alert the human guards.119 Monitoring bodies and NPMs should examine general policies and trends related to the use of technology in places of detention, as well as their implementation in practice, with a view to assessing their impact on the dignity of detainees. While audio-visual surveillance, such as recording of police interrogations, can provide a key safeguard against torture and other ill-treatment, monitoring bodies should be as specific as possible when recommending such measures, in order not to indirectly undermine the right to privacy and confidential consultation with legal representatives. They should also be attentive to overreliance on technology and surveillance, which carries the risk of dehumanising a place of detention. 8. Staff-prisoner relations and interprisoner violence Many countries do not invest adequately in their prison system, limiting their role to the building of walls and reducing staffing levels to what is required to prevent escape, and otherwise leaving prisoners more or less to their own devices. High levels of violence and systems of self-government, leaving control in the hands of the strongest prisoners, are the logical consequences of such neglect. When prisons are a dangerous place, people come out more likely to offend again, potentially even brutalised. Violent institutions are also very inefficient. Fights and assaults monopolise time that staff could spend on 111. Reassessing solitary confinement: the human rights, fiscal and public safety consequences. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, 19 June 2012. 112. See the press statement by Senator Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, 4 February 2013. http://durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=07260483-4972-4720-8d43-8fc82a9909ac <accessed 8 October 2013> 113. In March 2012, the Canon City Super-max prison in Colorado, USA, was closed down, whereas the Illinois Tamms Super-max prison was officially shut in January 2013. 114. Senator Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, 4 February 2013, op.cit. 115. On the use of video-conferencing for court hearings and the risks for the right to defence, see Opinion of the French General Inspector on places of detention (NPM) of 14 October 2011: http://www.cglpl.fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Avis-JO_visioconference_20111109.pdf <accessed 8 October 2013> 116. For example, this is the case for detainees under the Special Disciplinary Regime (RDD) in federal prisons in Brazil, or in Serbia in the Special Department of Pozarevac Zabela Correctional Institution, CPT Report to the Government of Serbia, visit from 1-11 February 2011, CPT/Inf (2012) 17, para.96. 117. Alison Liebling, Helen Arnold and Christina Straub, An exploration of staff prisoner relationships at HMP Whitemoor: 12 years on, revised final report, Ministry of Justice, 2011, p30. 118. See PRI/APT factsheet on ‘Video recording in police custody’, in Detention Monitoring Tool: Addressing risk factors to prevent torture and illtreatment, 2nd edition, 2015. 119. See ‘Robot prison guards to go on duty in Pohang’, The Korea Herald, http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20111124000755 <accessed 23 September 2013>. Penal Reform International | Balancing security and dignity in prisons: a framework for preventive monitoring | 17