UN Experts Call For Justice Reform In USA

UN human rights experts asked today United States access to the country to promote a judicial reform that exceeds the abuse against prisoners, such as the extensive use of solitary confinement.

The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez, and the head of the Working Group on arbitrary detention, Hong Seong-Phil, urged Washington to allow the visit. They are inspired by the travel record that President Barack Obama made last week in a prison.

In their request, disclosed in a statement, they recalled that Obama recognized problems as the unacceptable high rate of African-American incarceration, overcrowding in prisons and the called solitary confinement.

Both Mendez and Seong emphasized the promotion of minimum standards for the treatment prisoners, known as Mandela rules.