The Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CCDH) recently presented its evaluation of two draft prison regulations, which found that there is still room for improvement despite and announced paradigm shift.

Commission president Gilbert Pregno expressed his belief that the organisation of investigative custody for minors is productive, but also warned that there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the goal of re-socialising detainees.

The 40-page-long opinion from the CCDH further notes that although a prison is designed to limit some freedoms, it still has to respect human rights. During the respective presentation, Pregno therefore explicitly warned about the danger of dehumanising people.

According to the Commission, emphasis needs to be put on detainees' successful return into society after being released from prison. Former inmates should have a right to fair wages so that they do not end up living on the street.

The CCDH also questions the necessity of categorising detainees as at-risk of fleeing for not having a permanent address in the Grand Duchy. The Commission believes that this approach contributes to the fact that 43% of detainees in Luxembourg are in investigative custody.

Rhéa Ziadé, the Commission's legal expert, stressed that the devil is in the details. Women's rights and those of members of the LGBTQIA+ community are often considered to be neglected, which is generally thought to be the case with people who have specific needs.

Members of the CCDH also questioned the supposedly great ambition of the youth protection act. Although a paradigm shift had been announced, the decision was taken to temporarily transfer minors to the new Uerschterhaff Correctional Centre (CPU) while the Dreiborn facility is being renovated, which the Commission finds an unsuitable solution.

The CCDH also believes that there should be an option for detainees aged 18 to 21 to remain in youth facilities. Finally, the human rights experts concluded by saying that the regulations for young offenders seem to have been copied and pasted from the adult version.