Criminological Challenges in Standardization of Prison in the Light of International Documents

With the expansion in the population of prisons in Iran and the international considerations related to the emphasis on implementing the systematic principles and regulations in a prison environment, rethinking and doing pathological research about implementing the rules governing the prison has gained importance. The goal of the present study is the criminological challenges of standardizing the regulations governing the prison in Iran with a glance at the international documents.

This descriptive-analytical research uses a documentary and note-taking method for advancing the study objective.

The study findings signified that the regulations governing the prison have a multiplicity of rulings in Iran’s laws, especially the guidelines of the prisons organization and regarding the training and security measures and the related international documents, as well, have not been adequately taught and are not being very well implemented. In addition, maximal exigency-preference by the executive-judicial institutions in interaction with inmates has caused distancing away from adherence to regulations governing the prisons and divergent treatment of each of the persons sentenced to incarceration.

 Principles like honesty and trustworthiness have been observed from the beginning of the article to the end.

Under the current conditions, no serious effort is made in our prisons for achieving the goal of remaining adherent to the prison regulations. Factors like misbehavior by the guards and staff members towards the prisoners, method of keeping the prisoners, non-observance of hygiene principles inside the prison, population burst inside the prisons, lack of proper room and conditions, on the one hand, and the other legal gaps and insufficient supervision, on the other hand, are amongst the factors that have not only led to punishments’ ineffectiveness and non-correction of the criminals and decriminalization but also set the ground for the expansion of crimes and adding to the number of criminals.