Rights behind bars: Access to justice for victims of violent crime suffered in pre-trial or immigration detention Deprivation of liberty is amongst the harshest of measures that states can take against individuals and should only be imposed in limited circumstances as a measure of last resort. In addition to the loss of liberty (and the life-changing impact this can have) detaining a person exposes them to the heightened risk of violent crime: according to the World Health Organisation, a shocking 25% of prisoners are victimized by violence each year. Violence in places of detention is much more common than amongst the general population. It can take various forms: it may occur between detainees or be inflicted by officials working in Detention Centres. Putting a person in detention not only places them in a violent setting, it also makes them vulnerable. Detained people are isolated, stigmatized, and lack access to information and to means of communication with the outside world. Detention is not transparent – there is a lack of accountability and oversight. Procedural safeguards of people held in detention are not guaranteed. Places of detention can and often do operate as a kind of legal black hole. States which decide to detain people are legally and morally responsible for their safety, including because of the vulnerability of detainees and the high risk of violence in detention. Over the past two years, Fair Trials has worked with five partners to examine the barriers to access to justice for detained people who suffer physical violence, whether by Detention Staff or co-detainees, in six Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden). We focused on immigration detention and pre-trial detention in the context of criminal proceedings. exercise their other rights as victims. This vulnerability is exacerbated for people who are non-nationals, do not speak the national language and/or have no local support networks. • As well as these broader contextual challenges, we identified serious barriers to victims of violent crime in detention accessing key rights as victims: • Information on rights: Without information about their rights, a victim cannot exercise them. In practice, however, detainees are not usually informed of their rights as victims at any stage of their detention, including due to their inability to access information that exists in the outside world and due to the failure to recognise violence in detention as a criminal offence. Detention Staff are not trained to identify victims or to inform them of their rights, and Victim Support Services are rarely available in detention. • Access to justice: Despite violence being known to occur in detention, adequate reporting systems rarely exist, and few reports ever reach the criminal justice system. Detained victims who seek access to justice face considerable barriers: limits on communication make it hard to report crimes to law enforcement; detained victims are often expected to produce evidence of violence but face difficulties in securing this; and it is particularly difficult for detainees to establish that the use of force is unjustified and amounts to a criminal offence (something which should not be but often is required). The role of lawyers in helping detainees access criminal complaint mechanisms and evidence is key, but in detention, access to legal advice and representation is difficult to secure. • Protection from further victimisation: The risk of repeat victimisation, intimidation or reprisals is high in detention. The range of retaliation measures that staff may use against detainees is wide and may impact their physical or mental integrity. Similar risks of re-victimisation apply in the context of violent crimes committed by other detainees. In a closed setting, similar to a close relationship, it can be impossible for a victim to escape their aggressor. There is a lack of available protection measures in detention and Detention Staff do not generally conduct appropriate needs assessments. • Victim Support Services: Victims who are not detained are usually referred to Victim Support Services when they file a criminal complaint but, as detained victims rarely Overview of findings: The specific context of detention creates systemic challenges for victims of violent crime: • Where detainees suffer violent crime, they are victims with rights under EU law, even if they are also suspected perpetrators of crime or undocumented migrants. There is, however, a common failure to recognise that people can be both detainees and victims at the same time, that detainees’ procedural rights and their rights as victims can co-exist. This conceptual dichotomy has serious implications for the ability of detained victims of violence to access and exercise Victims’ Rights. • Acts of violence in detention are frequently normalised – seen as inevitable features of life in detention, whether that is harsh treatment by Detention Staff or by codetainees. For this reason, violence tends to be underreported and not to be addressed as seriously as it would be in the outside world. • By isolating people, detention places them in a situation of vulnerability and dependency on Detention Staff and co-detainees. Their livelihood and safety depend on how they are treated by staff and fear of reprisals is a predominant barrier to reporting. This makes it especially hard for detained victims to report crimes and to seek to Given the challenges that detainees face in reporting crimes, it is crucial that Detention Administrations play a pro-active role in identifying and addressing violent crime and in protecting the rights of victims. At various levels there are, however, embedded conflicts of interest and self-protection reflexes by those working within places of detention that can foster a rule of silence. These cultures deter whistle-blowing, investigations and accountability, all of which make violent crime hard to expose and to address. 7