Torture and other ill-treatment are not aberrations; they are common—even routine—in many detention facilities around the world.

Pretrial holding facilities in countries with developing and transitional economies often force detainees to live in filthy, over-crowded conditions, where they lack adequate health services. In the worst cases, detainees die; some centers are so bad that innocent people plead guilty just to be transferred to prisons where the conditions might be better.

This study conducted by the IRCP is the biggest study to date on Member States’ material detention conditions as well as on early/conditional release and earned remission provisions and sentence execution modalities.

The study “An Analysis of Minimum Standards in Pre-trial Detention and the Grounds for Regular Review in the Member States of the EU” was conducted by the Tilburg University and the University of Greifswald (Germany) and funded by the European Commission.

This study conducted by the IRCP is the biggest study to date on Member States’ material detention conditions as well as on early/conditional release and earned remission provisions and sentence execution modalities.

The excessive and arbitrary use of pretrial detention critically undermines socioeconomic development - and is especially harmful to the poor.

Around the world millions of people are locked up in pretrial detention because of corruption. Despite the prohibition of corruption under international law - as enshrined in the UN Convention against Corruption and other treaties and laws - criminal justice systems are often warped by bribery and other forms of corruption.

The Open Society Justice Initiative launched a Global Campaign for Pretrial Justice to promote alternatives to pretrial detention, expand access to legal aid services, and deploy paralegals to intervene earlier in the criminal justice process.