Abstract:
Prisoners have the right to enjoy the same human rights as persons at liberty, subject
only to those restrictions that are an unavoidable as a consequence of the confinement or
restrictions part of sentence by the court. Accordingly various international human right
instruments and specific rules and standards provide protections for Prisoners. In
Ethiopia, both the FDRE and SNNPRS constitutions guaranteed the treatment of
prisoners to be carried out respecting their human dignity. Specifically, the SNNPRS
Manner of Treatment of Inmates of Prisons Regulation provides detail rules on the right
of prisoners and their treatments in correction facilities.
On the other hand, the closed environment of correction facilities, including the unequal
power relations between prison staff and prisoners, produce vulnerabilities and the risks
of abuse in different forms. Therefore, there should be mechanisms to follow-up and
check the proper implementations of prisoners’ rights in correction facilities. One
strategy which seeks to prevent ill-treatment and other breaches of rights in correction
facilities has been to put in place mechanisms to inspect correction facilities and monitor
how human rights obligations are being fulfilled by authorities. Correction facilities
inspection and monitoring bodies are therefore important safeguards against breaches of
human rights of prisoners. In line with this, various international instruments such as the
Nelson Mandela Rules, requires the monitoring and inspection of correctional facilities
by independent external oversight body in the regular basis. Domestically, in Ethiopia,
particularly in SNNPRS, the power and responsibilities of monitoring and inspecting
correction facilities is given to public prosecutors. The SNNPRS, Attorney General
Establishment Proclamation No.177 /2018, provides the power of public prosecutors to
visit and inspect the condition of the treatment of prisoners in correction facilities and to
take appropriate corrective measures.
The objective of this study is therefore, to assess and examine the role of public
prosecutors in the enforcement of the right of prisoners in Bench-Sheko Zone correction
center. The study examines weather public prosecutors are conducting regular and
frequent visit and inspection to Bench-Sheko Zone correction center to ensure the
iv
implementation of prisoners right in accordance with the law. It also assess, weather
public prosecutors are taking necessary corrective legal or administrative measure to
ensure the observance of prisoners right in the correction center. To achieve this, the
researcher employed both open-ended and closed-ended questionnaire and in-depth
interviews with different key informants. Accordingly, the finding of the study shows that,
in the study area, the public prosecutor role in the enforcements of prisoners’ right is
very weak. Although prosecutors are conducting some occasional visit to the correction
center, they are not properly inspecting the condition of the treatment of prisoners in the
correction center. The study further find out that, despite the existence of the prisoners’
right violation and inadequacies on the treatment of prisoners and the facilities in the
correction center, prosecutors are not taking appropriate corrective or other important
legal measures to ensure the protection of the right of prisoners.