IntroductionThe right of a prisoner to maintain contact with family members, friends, and legal representatives through regular correspondence and visits is established in the SMRs and reinforced by later international standards, including the Body of Principles, EPRs, and the Principles and Best Practices of the IACHR, among others.78The exact nature of the required facilities will be determined by geographic location, management capacity, and operational characteristics of the prison but will require, at a minimum, a visitor reception and waiting areas, visitor toilets, separate male and female search spaces and meeting rooms/spaces. The configuration of the meeting rooms will vary on the basis of relevant security requirements.A secure physical space should also be provided for meetings with legal representation, prison authorities, or members of national, international, or other organizations that monitor prison conditions and the welfare of prisoners. These spaces must ensure privacy and confidentiality.In addition to normal meeting rooms, spaces should be designed and built to consider the needs of incarcerated parents with visiting children to maintain family links. The visits area must be designed to make access for prisoners and visitors with disabilities as easy as possible. Also, appropriate facilities may be needed for conjugal visits—these are likely to be comprised of a suitably sized room with sanitary facilities and a bed.Facilities must also be provided for prisoners to use regular telephone and mail services, and video teleconferencing technology may also be included. Detained children must be permitted to communicate by writing or telephone a minimum of twice weekly, and non-national prisoners must be allowed regular communication with their representatives in a consulate or embassy.79International standards related to the treatment of incarcerated women and children address the right to visits in greater detail. Visits between mothers and their children should take place in an environment that permits open contact between mother and child (without glass partition, offering an opportunity for increased affection and intimacy) and which encourages extended visits, where possible.80 The same principles apply equally to male prisoners who are fathers. The Bangkok Rules also require that women prisoners maintain access to conjugal visits on an equal basis as male prisoners.81Unique concerns involve the detention of children, particularly with regard to the detrimental impacts of their removal from family, which should be mitigated to every possible extent. In addition to the right to receive regular and frequent visits from family members, a child should be permitted to leave detention facilities for home and family visits.82The SMRs do not prohibit the practice of withholding family contact as a form of punishment. However, the Bangkok Rules establish that “disciplinary sanctions for women prisoners shall not include a prohibition of family contact, especially with children,”83 and ICPS recommends that “visits, especially with close family members, are not to be regarded as privileges but rather as a basic human right.”84Operational and security considerationsThe primary design issue in the consideration of visitation spaces is the maintenance of prisoner privacywhile retaining the ability for prison staff to observe prisoners and maintain security. Prison visits areas needto balance both the security requirements of the prison and the provision of a positive space for the interaction of prisoners with their families. While all prisons must provide facilities to allow visitations, these should be designed to allow the most favourable conditions possible, taking into account the risk profile of the prisoners.To establish the infrastructure requirements of the visitation area in a prison facility, there must be adequateconsideration of the expected volume of visitors and the frequency of visits that will allow prisoners to sustain
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