The role of penal institutions in rehabilitating convicts in light of national legislation and international agreements (a comparative study)

Abstract

The role of penal institutions in rehabilitation and reform is an important role, no less important than the role of any other social institution, whether educational, health, or educational. This importance stems from the fact that this institution represents the cornerstone through which the rehabilitation of misdemeanors and deviant members of society is accomplished. And returning him to his society as a healthy individual fit to live with its members, carrying this responsibility and with it the great burdens that this institution must bear in order to achieve what they aspire to, and in order for this to happen, these institutions must keep pace with the international community in terms of the extent of their harmony with its legislation, as these institutions sought Society is striving to provide guarantees of rehabilitation and reform, to mitigate as much as possible the disadvantages and drawbacks of deprivation of freedom in general and short-term punishments in particular, with the international community setting this as its goal, looking at punishment, which tried to expand its concept and which did not limit it to general deterrence and specific deterrence only, but rather added to it. The most important purpose is reform and refinement, which made it a flexible concept that can be developed according to developments in society and the necessities of life. The decision of the international community, represented by its international bodies and organizations, came to make that period that the prisoner spends behind the walls of the institution a period of development for the criminal’s self, while guaranteeing all the resulting rights. It is derived from the principle that the person subject to that punishment is a human being and it is not permissible to deprive him of his humanity, even if his freedom is deprived, and even if the punishment deprives a person of his freedom, it does not mean depriving him of his dignity as a human being. From here we find that the internal legislation has been approved in terms of its formulation and the way it deals with the rights of prisoners and their guarantees in accordance with International legislation, but in terms of practical application, we find that the reality of its penal institutions is still far from the level of ambition at the international level. Hence, our research came to define the concept of that institution, its goals, and the extent to which it keeps pace with international conventions and covenants and the guarantees of preserving a person’s humanity, even when he is asked for discipline for the mistake he commits during implementation. The punitive system, in addition to his other social rights, is his right to visitation and correspondence, his right to health care, whether preventive or curative, education and cultivation, which expands his awareness to bring him to know his mistake and avoid it in the future. The most important guarantee in punitive implementation is that work is available to all groups, which qualifies him. To find a job opportunity that suits what he learned within the institution, thus providing him with a source of honorable livelihood that keeps him away from criminal behavior. Finally, criminal policy in general and punitive policy in particular have tended to find alternative methods with greater rehabilitative benefit than freedom-depriving punishments, and for those means to be restrictive of freedom and outside Punitive institutions to mitigate the negative aspects of an individual’s presence behind prison walls and their negative repercussions on him, which has led the international legislator to adopt modern policies at the level of punitive implementation to bring us to a society free of violence and cruelty in which crime is reduced to the maximum extent.