Phase 1
Understanding the Environmental Conditions of Detention (Edinburgh, UK) Workshop 10 June 2024
Understanding the Environmental Conditions of Detention built on academic research, detention monitoring practice and practical understandings of how environmental conditions within places of detention can cross the threshold of prohibited treatment. Environmental conditions that can contribute to findings of ill-treatment include sonic conditions, temperature conditions and light manipulation, among others. Consolidating the knowledge of international experts on the prohibition against torture, the project brings together key researchers across law, musicology and criminology and practitioners to explore the variable ways in which the environmental conditions of detention can individually and collectively degrade an individual’s detention experience to a point that amounts to prohibited treatment.
This workshop aimed to consolidate existing research on the environmental conditions of detention, both broadly conceived and in specific relation to vulnerable groups. Previous research identified that environmental conditions of detention can exacerbate existing physical and mental vulnerabilities of detainees. These conditions may be created through punishment, such as the use of loud music or light manipulation, or result from neglect of detainees’ needs, such as overuse of air conditioning and lack of consideration of health impacts of, e.g. environmental noise.
Phase 1 of the project and the resulting briefing paper benefited from the workshop participation and contributions of the following:
- Dru Brenner-Beck, University of Edinburgh, Retired Judge Advocate General
- Lucy Cathcart Frødén, University of Oslo
- Sam Gluckstein, UK NPM
- Morag Grant, University of Edinburgh
- Kate Herrity, Cambridge University
- Tigran Karapetyan, Council of Europe
- Jane Kilpatrick, UK NPM
- Conall Mallory, Queen’s University Belfast
- Kasey McCall-Smith, University of Edinburgh
- Colin McKay, Edinburgh Napier University
- Manfred Nowak, Global Campus of Human Rights
- Anna Papaeti, Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation
- James Parker, Melbourne Law School
- Megan Price, University of Sheffield
- Lindsey Reynolds, lawyer
- Layla Skinns, University of Sheffield
- Anna Souhami, University of Edinburgh
- Jim Watson, University of the West of Scotland
- Elaine Webster, Strathclyde University
Reporters for the workshop included: Darcy Fahey, Ambareen Huq, and Shingo Nishioka
Phase 2
Expanding Global Understandings of the Environmental Conditions of Detention (Edinburgh, UK) Workshop, 12-13 May 2025
Expanding Global Understandings of the Environmental Conditions of Detention is a joint University of Edinburgh/UK National Preventive Mechanism Project which will build on academic research, detention monitoring practice and practical understandings of how environmental conditions within places of detention can cross the threshold of prohibited treatment. In the first phase of this project (June 2024), academics and practitioners came together to discuss how specific environmental conditions contribute to findings of ill-treatment including sound, temperature, light and air quality conditions.
In phase 2 of this project, we aim to cast our net wider and expand our knowledge base regarding further aspects of detention conditions that we were unable to address in the first phase. The purpose is to explore how different environmental conditions both within detention settings, as well as the broader physical/geographical landscapes in which they sit, can shape detention experiences.
More information to follow.
Phase 3
Expanding Global Understandings of the Environmental Conditions of Detention in the Americas (Lima, Peru) Workshop September 2025 (date TBC)
More information to follow.