Le sort des detenus a toujours retenu l'attention de certains hommes de bonne volonte qui se regroupaient au sein d'organismes ou de societes pour visiter et secourir les prisonniers. Ainsi au Quebec, des 1849, on fondait la «Montreal Prison Discipline Association». Quelques penologues trouvaient aussi que le sort des detenus etait inacceptable et denoncaient le parti que l'on faisait a ces boucs emissaires de la societe. Ce n'est probablement pas par hasard que plusieurs parmi les plus actifs d'entre eux aient deja ete emprisonnes. Ce fut le cas entre autres du celebre John Howard qui ecrivit en 1777 un livre sur l'etat des prisons en Europe, du Dr Nelson qui devint inspecteur des prisons quelques annees apres sa detention de 1837, et de plusieurs des plus ardents reformateurs des systemes penitentiaires francais et belge apres la derniere guerre. Depuis quelques annees, l'amelioration des conditions de detention et la reconnaissance des droits des detenus, surtout aux Etats-Unis, est due a une lutte menee par les detenus eux-memes. Favorisees par un interet accru pour le droit des minorites et par une plus grande politisation et prise de conscience des detenus, ces luttes ont ete fortement influencees par des ideologies venant de l'exterieur de la prison et se sont concretisees dans deux moyens principaux: la revolte plus ou moins organisee et les recours judiciaires. Il y eut toujours des revoltes dans les prisons, mais certaines de ces emeutes aux Etats-Unis, ces dernieres annees, n'aboutissaient pas seulement a des plaintes au sujet des conditions de detention, elles avaient un contenu nettement plus revolutionnaire et tendaient a revendiquer des droits politiques et legaux.

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Les détenus et les droits de l’homme

After analyzing the characteristics of prison institutions and the traditional role of the law in such a totalitarian legal order, the author attempts to identify the social factors and movements which, since the end of the 1970s, have contributed to the emergence as norms of fundamental rights for prisoners. She posits that recent developments have resulted from the prisoners' rights movement battling before the courts. As the courts developed criteria to judge the legality of practices or decision-making processes, Canadian legislators, in the course of the 1980s, gradually integrated these jurisprudential requirements. Judicial intervention in Canadian prison law has had a significant impact on the development of new norms of prison justice, establishing prisoners' fundamental rights and the duty to treat prisoners fairly.

L'évolution des normes dans l'institution carcérale

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Introduction: A Model Act for the Protection of Rights of Prisoners

Cet article propose un bref apercu de l’evolution des droits des personnes detenues au Canada En dressant le bilan actuel au regard des ecrits de Pierre Landreville, nous mettons tout d’abord l’accent sur le cheminement normatif parcouru ainsi que sur les limites rencontrees en termes de ressources necessaires a la pleine concretisation des droits des detenus La seconde partie de cet article analyse les defis contemporains que pose le controle du respect des droits des detenus En se basant sur une recherche empirique recente, nous confrontons l’etat d’avancement et l’impact de deux mecanismes de controle reclames des 1973 par Pierre Landreville : l’Enqueteur correctionnel et le Comite de prevention de la torture des Nations Unies Nous concluons par une discussion sur l’impact des mecanismes de controle et leur utilisation par l’Etat en tant qu’outil de legitimation

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Les droits des détenus et leur contrôle : enjeux actuels de la situation canadienne

A l’occasion du cinquantieme anniversaire de la revue Criminologie, le present texte presente une retrospective des articles consacres a la prison, ayant comme objectif de souligner la contribution des auteurs au developpement de la recherche sur les institutions carcerales. En utilisant les publications de la revue pour seules references, l’article propose un choix de differentes thematiques afin d’illustrer les tendances qui se degagent de ce corpus. Sont ainsi presentes des textes portant sur les origines de la prison et ses incarnations au Quebec et au Canada, la volonte de transformer le regime carceral par la reconnaissance des droits des detenus, la reconstruction de la personne carcerale sous le prisme du risque, ainsi que la situation particuliere des femmes incarcerees.

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Prison : l’inamovible objet

ENFORCEMENT OF THE STANDARD MINIMUM RULES FOR THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS IN CANADA Conditions inside prisons in Canada as elsewhere, have not been beyond reproach from the time detention was instituted as a type of punishment at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This is not surprising, for society took no further interest in a delinquent once he had been handed over to the penitentiary authorities. The Belgian penologist, Paul Cornil, pointed out the striking contrast that exists between the legal guarantees given an accused during his trial and the free hand given the penitentiary authorities when carrying out his punishment. But in 1955, at the First Congress of the United Nations for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Delinquents, Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners were adopted. In 1957, the Economic and Social Council approved these Standard Minimum Rules and asked the governments involved to approve their adoption and enforcement. A study of the legislation concerned with federal penitentiaries and Houses of Detention in the Province of Quebec, lead to the realization that the minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners are usually not protected by laws, regulations or by directives in these penal institutions. On the other hand, prison conditions are in fact consistent with the requirements of the rules. These conditions, however, are due to the good will of the authorities and cannot be controlled ; they are considered privileges rather than rights. As a result of these findings, we believe that the Standard Minimum Rules should be considered the Bill of Rights of all individuals deprived of liberty, convicted or not. To do this : 1) the guarantees provided by the Rules must be incorporated in Canadian law and in that of each province ; 2) a thorough knowledge of the Rules must be given to the services, authorities and other groups involved, including the inmates and the public ; 3) inmates must be given the means to have their rights respected by creating an organization that will control and enforce the Standard Minimum Rules ; 4) an evaluation must be made of the measures necessary for the enforcement of the Rules, the methods to be used and the results obtained. However, ideas on rights and privileges change quickly, especially in the field of corrections. Thus in 1972, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency published an Act to Provide for Minimum Standards for the Protection of Rights of Prisoners. This text is noteworthy because it rests on a principle which, in our opinion, should serve as a cornerstone for the re-evaluation of the rights of prisoners : « A prisoner retains all the rights of an ordinary citizen except those expressly or by necessary implication, taken from him by law. » Recognition of this kind would contribute towards alleviating the secondary effects of penal sentences, of imprisonment and public stigmatiza-tion. It would lead to a more humane, tolerant and responsible attitude towards those who are hardest hit by public censure.

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Pierre Landreville

Papers

L’application des règles minima pour le traitement des détenus au Canada