監獄超額收容問題之國際觀察──有效策略與解決方案

Prison Overcrowding: International Strategies and Effective Responses

監獄超額收容問題在過去數十年來一直是國際問所關注的政策議題。在過去15年來，全球在監人口數之成長速度，大於總人口數之成長速度，而監禁率也呈現整體成長之趨勢，臺灣與世界上許多國家有著類似的情形，展現出高監禁率與高收容率之特色，可說是刑事政策與執法單位實踐重刑化理念的結果。其次，除了量的成長，我國監獄在收容人的質方面也出現了顯著的變化，呈現「特殊需求受刑人增加」之情形，此亦與聯合國毒品和犯罪問題辦公室（UNODC）所觀察到世界各國之現象呈現一致性。監獄嚴重超額收容，其影響層面是廣泛的，不僅在硬體方面會出現舍房、床位或設備不足之狀況，亦可能會導致侵犯人權、發生暴亂或流行疾病之情形，創造出監獄對於受刑人之不人道或有辱人格的待遇，以及監獄員工之工作環境惡化、戒護和教化管理困難、工作壓力之增加及心理健康不良等影響。監獄超額收容之現象，並非由單一因素所導致，其原因更與一個國家之治理問題、在社會、政治、經濟、教育或健康等各方面之整體表現及刑事司法系統之操作不良有所關連。觀諸世界各國就監獄超額收容問題之解決策略，可概以「前門轉向、後門廣開、結合民問力量」的方式來因應。本文透過有關監獄超額收容問題之國際觀察，分析比較國內外監獄收容之概況，並整理國際上減少監獄超額收容之有效策略，包括：（一）制定全面性、其實證基礎的策略，並獲得社會大眾之支持；（二）縮減監禁刑的範園，發展合宜的量刑政策；（三）促進刑事司法系統的效能；（四）提昇法律協助和法律扶助措施；（五）減少審前羈押；（六）善用替代監禁措施；（七）強化社會復歸措施及降低再犯；（八）有效管理監獄容額；及實踐上之先期評估、短期、中期與長期解決方案，期對我國相關刑事政策擬訂有所助益。

The prison population throughout the world is growing, and the overcrowding has been on international and national policy agenda since decades. In the past 15 years, the growth rate of world prison population has higher than the world population, and the world population rate has risen more than before. Under the trend of criminal penalize in practices, Taiwan shows the characteristics with high imprisonment rates and high prison occupancy rates. Besides the number of prisoners increased in quantity, there have been significant changes in quality in Taiwan prison population. The trend shows a growth in the proportion of certain special groups of prisoners, such as the young prisoners, older prisoners, women prisoners, foreign nationals, prisoners with mental health care needs, and drug-related prisoners. The Taiwan prison system shows the similar situation with the worldwide observed phenomenon by the UNODC. The effect of prison overcrowding has placing an enormous financial burden on governments and at a great cost to the social cohesion of societies. Evidently, it is assumed widely that overcrowding is strongly correlated with a heavy use of imprisonment. However, the correlation between the rate of imprisonment and overcrowding is weak. The explanations of overcrowding have broader various indices related to the economy, human development, social equality, state fragility, violence and corruption. The good governance of criminal justice system of the governments will be a long-term solution for the prison overcrowding. By collected the prison overcrowding situation worldwide, the study introduced some effective strategies to reduce overcrowding in prisons which includes: (1) Developing comprehensive, evidence based strategies and gaining public support. (2) Reducing the scope of imprisonment and developing fair sentencing policies. (3) Improving the efficiency of the criminal justice system. (4) Access to legal assistance and legal aid. (5) Reducing pre-trial detention. (6) Alternatives to imprisonment. (7) Assisting with social reintegration and reducing reoffending and (8) Managing prison capacity. Besides, with looking forward to helpful to the development of criminal policy making, the action plan and best practices against prison overcrowding were also specified.