Prisoner

Inmates at Camp X-Ray in Guantánamo (2002)

Prisoner in convict clothing and with anklet (Tasmania around 1900)

Column of German Prisoners near Stalingrad (February 1943)

A prisoner or a prisoner is a person who is legally restricted or illegally deprived of his or her civil liberties, i.e. who is involuntarily in captivity - in sovereign custody or in the power of criminals .

The deprivation of liberty (sovereign power) can have different reasons and forms. The best known is the custody in a prison , penitentiary or in custody due to a judicial judgment or order , but also due to a measure of the police . There is also the open execution ( e.g. half-imprisonment , daily execution ), which in electronic monitoring represents a transition to serving a sovereign sanction without deprivation of liberty.
Also victims of deprivation of liberty such as B. Kidnapping or hostage-taking are prisoners.

A distinction is made in the legal system as legitimate imprisonment

Prisoners after conviction for a criminal detention , a prison sentence serving

Prisoners in preventive detention

the pre-trial detention

to prepare for extradition or deportation of detainees abroad

Prisoners of war who are in captivity under the application of international martial law

as well as anyone who is deprived of their freedom due to the exercise of executive power.

Prisoners who are imprisoned for political reasons are called political prisoners . Another special form is the custody of mentally ill offenders in (mostly closed) sanatoriums and nursing homes, such as welfare deprivation of liberty in Switzerland, accommodation in Austria.

Germany

For the prisoner, the deprivation of liberty has a considerable influence on his basic civil rights; the imprisonment resulted in a restriction of the same. Tangible restrictions on fundamental rights include:

the confidentiality of letters ( Art. 10 GG )
freedom of expression without censorship ( Art. 5 GG)
the freedom of movement ( Art. 11 GG)
Prisoner labor, duty of the prisoner to work (explicitly mentioned for Germany in Art. 12 Paragraph 3 GG and § 41 StVollzG ; in Austria § 44 Paragraph 1 Austrian StVG and §§ 44ff; in Switzerland Art. 82 SStGB )
Marriage and divorce in Austria: ( § 100 , § 99 ÖStVG), dealing with children

Further aspects are the dress code (wearing private clothing or uniform institutional clothing ), leisure activities and others.

International regulations regulating the rights, obligations and other living conditions of prisoners:

A detainee ( juvenile prisoner) is also a prisoner, but only for a short time.

literature

Federal Ministry of Justice Berlin, Federal Ministry of Justice Vienna, Federal Justice and Police Department Bern (ed.): European prison principles. Council of Europe Recommendations Rec (2006) 2 - Recast the Minimum Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners. Forum, Godesberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-936999-29-7 .
- Web document. (PDF; 622 kB) ISBN 978-3-936999-30-3 . May 2007, accessed August 8, 2008 .