Abandon All Labour Rights, Ye Who Enter Here: The Labour Rights of Prisoners

Abstract: Prisoners are somewhat overlooked in international law. There is no binding global instrument regarding their treatment. Regulations are left to the national legislators, though there are a few regional instruments concerning prisoners. Prisoners are often required to work during their prison sentence, but the conditions of work are neglected in national law. The ILO, which is the UN agency responsible for the labour rights, is responsible for offering guidance on what labour rights and freedoms that prisoners can expect when in prison. For this thesis, only the fundamental principles and rights that are acknowledged in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work from 1998 will be used, even if some comparison will be made to other international human rights instruments. The examination of these instruments shows that prisoners are seldom mentioned, and when they are mentioned, it is to exclude them. This does not make prisoners unprotected, however, since the fundamental principles and rights at work do not list the categories of workers that are covered, but rather lists which categories that are excluded from the protection provided. That prisoners are not mentioned can only be understood as that they are covered by the protection. This conclusion entails that many states all over the world are in breach of the fundamental principles and rights at work, since it is very rare that any state allows prisoners to form trade unions, for example. The only known example of this is Germany. Finding that states are breaching the fundamental principles and rights at work is not enough, the ILO conventions also need to be enforced, which is the responsibility of the ILO. The only instance where the ILO has found breaches concerning prisoners is regarding forced labour in private prisons. There is therefore much work left to be done.