Finnish prison cells violate human rights…

Recently appointed parliamentary ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen says prisons cells without toilet facilities are shameful. Jääskeläinen, who starts his new job on January 1st, had harsh words about Finnish prisons.

Finnish prisons have some 400 dry cells, or cells without toilet facilities. Prisoners are forced to use a bucket to relieve themselves. Correctional facilities in Kuopio, Mikkeli, Konnunsuo, Hämeenlinna and Helsinki have dry cells. The Hämeenlinna women’s prison alone has 84 dry cells.
Violation of human rights
Jääskeläinen says prison cells without toile facilities are a violation of human rights.
”The European Court of Human Rights considers dry cells to be humiliating. It is especially deplorable when several prisoners share the same cell. They are forced to relieve themselves in front of one another,” he says.
Several other parliamentary ombudsmen and international monitoring bodies have criticised Finland’s prisons for years.
”Abolishing these types of cells would be in accordance with the international human rights standard for the treatment of prisoners. Finland must finally address this matter,” he says.
Compensation for suffering?
Because the issue of toilets is a question of human rights, prisoners could be paid some sort of compensation.
“We already compensate for some offences. For each day spent in prison without just cause, a prisoner is paid 100 euros,” he says.
”If the government would have to pay prisoners compensation of say 50 euros per night spent in a dry cell, I think that those types of cells would disappear quite quickly.”