Incorporating the Nelson Mandela Rules Into National Prison Legislation

The Nelson Mandela Rules are a crucial guide for prison practitioners and legislators alike because, in the words of the preliminary observations to the Rules, they “represent, as a whole, the minimum conditions which are accepted as suitable by the United Nations”.4 Moreover, in 2017, the General Assembly explicitly encouraged Member States “to use the [Nelson Mandela] Rules as a guide in the development of prison laws.” The purpose of this Handbook is to provide guidance on developing national prison legislation that meets the minimum standards set by the Nelson Mandela Rules. At the core of this Handbook is a Model Prison Act, designed to guide Member States in understanding how the principles contained in the Nelson Mandela Rules could best be included in national prison legislation. The Model Prison Act is supported by a detailed commentary with references to not only the Nelson Mandela Rules but also other United Nations standards and norms relevant to prison management and the treatment of prisoners, as well as the binding international conventions that underpin them.