European scopes in the realization of human rights of prisoners

Spoznaja da kao društvo moramo štititi ljudska prava svih osoba pa tako i onih koji se nalaze na izdržavanju kazne zatvora predstavlja nit vodilju u ovome radu. Ljudska prava zatvorenika osjetno su izloženija povredi i shodno tome društvo u cjelini mora činiti sve kako bi se to spriječilo. U radu je prikazan teorijski i povijesni aspekt prije svega svrhe kažnjavanja, a zatim i same kazne zatvora. Dan je cjeloviti prikaz nacionalnih i međunarodnih pravnih akata koji reguliraju ljudska prava, s posebnim osvrtom na Europsku konvenciju za zaštitu ljudskih prava i temeljnih sloboda, odnosno njezine pojedine članke. Naglašena je važna uloga Europskog suda za ljudska prava koji je u svojim presudama dao nemjerljiv doprinos u daljnjem napretku i jačanju prava zatvorenika, a njegov utjecaj vidljiv je i u presudama Ustavnog suda Republike Hrvatske. Napuštanje teorije pripadajućih ograničenja predstavlja veliki iskorak jer je time zatvorenicima omogućeno uživanje svih prava, osim onih za koje postoji legitimitet u ograničenju. Na kraju je prikazano stanje u zatvorima u Europskoj uniji te posebno u Republici Hrvatskoj s naglaskom na problem prenapučenosti. Ljudska prava zatvorenika teorijski su dosegla zavidnu razinu, ali kao društvo u cjelini moramo poduzimati daljnje korake kako bi ona doživjela punu implementaciju u svakodnevnom životu zatvorenika.The understanding that we, as a society, have to protect human rights of all people, including the people serving sentences, represents the main guiding principle of this paper. Human rights of prisoners are much more sensitive and open to harm, therefore the society at large has to do everything in its power to prevent such harmful actions from happening. This paper describes the theoretical and historical aspects of, first and foremost, the very purpose of punishments and prison sentences. The paper provides a complete overview of national and international legal framework that regulates human rights with special emphasis on certain parts of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The paper highlights the role of European Court of Human Rights which has, through its verdicts, provided us with an immeasurable contributions in furthering and strengthening the rights of prisoners. Also, the influence of European Court of Human Rights is visible in the decisions of Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia. Abandoning the theory of inheret limitations represents a big step forward because in that way we are allowing prisoners the usage of all of their rights, except the ones that have been legitimately limited. Finally, the paper depicts the state of prisons in European union and Republic of Croatia with emphasis on the problem of overcrowding. Human rights of prisoners, in theory, have reached a remarkable level, but we as a society have to make additional efforts, so that, those rights would reach their full implementation in prisoners' everyday life