Outdoor exercise

1. The purposes of a sentence of imprisonment or similar measures deprivative of a person’s liberty are primarily to protect society against crime and to reduce recidivism. Those purposes can be achieved only if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure, so far as possible, the reintegration of such persons into society upon release so that they can lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life.

2. To this end, prison administrations and other competent authorities should offer education, vocational training and work, as well as other forms of assistance that are appropriate and available, including those of a remedial, moral, spiritual, social and health- and sports-based nature. All such programmes, activities and services should be delivered in line with the individual treatment needs of prisoners.

Every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits.

Young prisoners, and others of suitable age and physique, shall receive physical and recreational training during the period of exercise. To this end, space, installations and equipment should be provided.

The physician or competent public health body shall regularly inspect and advise the prison director on:
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(e) The observance of the rules concerning physical education and sports, in cases where there is no technical personnel in charge of these activities.

Every juvenile should have the right to a suitable amount of time for daily free exercise, in the open air whenever weather permits, during which time appropriate recreational and physical training should normally be provided. Adequate space, installations and equipment should be provided for these activities. [...]  The detention facility should ensure that each juvenile is physically able to participate in the available programmes of physical education. Remedial physical education and therapy should be offered, under medical supervision, to juveniles needing it.

The principal aspects of a prison regime relevant to an assessment of the conditions of solitary confinement include access to outdoor exercise and programming, access to meaningful human contact within the prison, and contact with the outside world. In accordance with rule 21 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits. Similarly, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture emphasizes that all prisoners without exception should be afforded the opportunity to have one hour of open-air exercise per day. However, State practice indicates that these standards are not always observed. In Jordan, for example, a detainee was allowed outside of his solitary confinement cell for only one hour per week (A/HRC/4/33/Add.3, appendix, para. 21). In Poltrotsky v. Ukraine, the European Court of Human Rights found that a lack of opportunity for outdoor exercise, coupled with a lack of access to natural light, constitutes a violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which apply to all categories of prisoners, both criminal and those imprisoned under any other non-criminal process, set out minimum standards for, inter alia, accommodation, personal hygiene, clothing, bedding, food, exercise, access to newspapers, books and religious advisers, communication with the outside world and medical services.

The Special Rapporteur calls on States to consider progressively abolishing the administrative detention of migrants. In the meantime, Governments should take measures to ensure respect for the human rights of migrants in the context of detention, including by:

(f) Applying the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners to migrants under administrative detention, including providing for the separation of administrative detainees from criminal detainees; ensuring an adequate standard of accommodation, including minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation; providing for adequate sanitary, bathing and shower installations; allowing administrative detainees to wear their own clothing, and provide facilities for their cleaning; a separate bed with clean bedding for each detainee; adequate food and drinking water; at least one hour of outdoor exercise daily; the right to communicate with relatives and friends and to have access to newspapers, books and religious advisers; ensuring the presence of at least one qualified medical officer who should have some knowledge of psychiatry, as well as a qualified dental officer; and ensuring the right to make a request or complaint to the central prison administration, judicial authorities or other proper authorities;

IIf detained, asylum-seekers are entitled to the following minimum conditions of detention:

(viii) The opportunity to conduct some form of physical exercise through daily indoor and outdoor recreational activities needs to be available; as well as access to suitable outside space, including fresh air and natural light. Activities tailored to women and children, and which take account of cultural factors, are also needed.

The regime provided for all prisoners shall offer a balanced programme of activities.

Every prisoner shall be provided with the opportunity of at least one hour of exercise every day in the open air, if the weather permits.

When the weather is inclement alternative arrangements shall be made to allow prisoners to exercise.

Properly organised activities to promote physical fitness and provide for adequate exercise and recreational opportunities shall form an integral part of prison regimes.

Prison authorities shall facilitate such activities by providing appropriate installations and equipment.

Prison authorities shall make arrangements to organise special activities for those prisoners who need them.

Recreational opportunities, which include sport, games, cultural activities, hobbies and other leisure pursuits, shall be provided and, as far as possible, prisoners shall be allowed to organise them.

Prisoners shall be allowed to associate with each other during exercise and in order to take part in recreational activities.

A satisfactory programme of activities (work, education, sport, etc.) is of crucial importance for the well-being of prisoners. This holds true for all establishments, whether for sentenced prisoners or those awaiting trial. The CPT has observed that activities in many remand prisons are extremely limited. The organisation of regime activities in such establishments - which have a fairly rapid turnover of inmates - is not a straightforward matter. Clearly, there can be no question of individualised treatment programmes of the sort which might be aspired to in an establishment for sentenced prisoners. However, prisoners cannot simply be left to languish for weeks, possibly months, locked up in their cells, and this regardless of how good material conditions might be within the cells. The CPT considers that one should aim at ensuring that prisoners in remand establishments are able to spend a reasonable part of the day (8 hours or more) outside their cells, engaged in purposeful activity of a varied nature. Of course, regimes in establishments for sentenced prisoners should be even more favourable.

Specific mention should be made of outdoor exercise. The requirement that prisoners be allowed at least one hour of exercise in the open air every day is widely accepted as a basic safeguard (preferably it should form part of a broader programme of activities). The CPT wishes to emphasise that all prisoners without exception (including those undergoing cellular confinement as a punishment) should be offered the possibility to take outdoor exercise daily. It is also axiomatic that outdoor exercise facilities should be reasonably spacious and whenever possible offer shelter from inclement weather.

Naturally, the CPT is also attentive to the particular problems that might be encountered by certain specific categories of prisoners, for example: women, juveniles and foreigners.

Conditions of detention for irregular migrants should reflect the nature of their deprivation of liberty, with limited restrictions in place and a varied regime of activities. For example, detained irregular migrants should have every opportunity to remain in meaningful contact with the outside world (including frequent opportunities to make telephone calls and receive visits) and should be restricted in their freedom of movement within the detention facility as little as possible. Even when conditions of detention in prisons meet these requirements – and this is certainly not always the case – the CPT considers the detention of irregular migrants in a prison environment to be fundamentally flawed, for the reasons indicated above.

Physical exercise should constitute an important part of the juveniles’ daily programme. All juveniles should be allowed to exercise regularly, for at least two hours every day, of which at least one hour should be in the open air and, preferably, considerably more. Outdoor exercise yards should be spacious and suitably equipped to give juveniles a real opportunity to exert themselves physically; they should also be equipped with shelter against inclement weather.

28.1. Exercise and recreational activities shall be arranged flexibly to enable foreign prisoners to participate in a manner that respects their culture.

28.2. Prison authorities shall encourage activities that promote positive relations amongst prisoners from the same culture and between prisoners from different backgrounds.