NCJ Number
100466
Date Published
1986
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article provides guidelines for the development and implementation of a practical code of corrections minimum standards in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
Although England and Wales have no comprehensive standards for prisons, a first step toward such a goal occurred in 1984 with publication of a code of minimum standards by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. While only rudimentary, the code's approach is correct in attempting to target prison conditions amenable to objective measurement and in reflecting minimum prison standards specified in other countries as well as international codes. Certain international codes are vague and ambiguous, but some national codes, such as those in the United States, are precise. A code should not only require the minimum provision of plant and equipment per capita, but should also address issues of access and availability. A British code could draw upon existing prison rules as well as regulations for other places of communal working and living. The code should have authoritative legal status, perhaps to the extent of being law, and its enforcement must depend upon an information system capable of detecting nomcompliance with standards as well as feasible sanctions for noncompliance.