In the European context, in the field of human rights and prisons, the
Council of Europe (CoE) has made great strides in the advancement of
prisoners’ human rights in terms of recognition and protection. It has
achieved this primarily through the 1950 European Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR)
and its enforcement organ, the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg (ECtHR). The ECHR is not a prison treaty, but prisoners
have invoked its provisions numerous times and with success (van Zyl
Smit and Snacken 2009). For example, based on the latest ECtHR historical
review of its activity, between 1959 and 2009, Article 6 violations
(right to fair trial) featured in 47.47% of the ECtHR judgments and
Article 5 violations (right to liberty and security) in 10.72% of the judgments
(ECtHR 2010).