Forming an international agreement to how prisoners should be treated

Human Rights 1 & 2

Written by: Aysha Al-Bader

1. Summary/ Background info:

Prisoners are often treated unfairly; they are stripped of their dignity, basic necessities, contact with the outside world, and their basic human rights. Helping prisoners integrate back into society after imprisonment is also difficult. They are often ostracized and find it difficult to rebuild themselves economically. There is no formal and official agreement or code of conduct on how prisoners should be treated, and regulations applied to their treatment. There have been many reforms over the past century to improve the living conditions and treatment of prisoners. For instance, during the United States in the 1800s, activist, Dorothea Dix fought for prison reform in order to guarantee that prisoners had clean living conditions, weren't abused, and focused highly on preserving their mental health and treating them with humanity and care to overall improve their lives. Scandinavian countries for instance highly focus on the rehabilitation of their prisoners rather than punishing them. The Third Geneva Convention addressed creating international laws to preserve and define prisoners especially prisoners of war.