About the Prison Law Knowledge Hub

The Prison Law Knowledge Hub brings together a selection of key legal and practical resources for prisoners' rights defenders across Europe in a single, accessible space. Complementing existing legal databases and knowledge platforms on prisoners' rights, this Hub provides curated resources to meet the specific needs of prison law practitioners - in particular lawyers, prisoners engaged in litigation and civil society organisations - to support their litigation and advocacy work.

Developed by the European Prison Litigation Network, the Hub also serves as a collaborative exchange platform where prisoners' rights defenders across the continent may contribute their analyses and resources and foster coordinated initiatives at the European level.

How does it work?

Content

We have selected key resources that can be used directly to defend and advance prisoners' rights, including essential international and European prison law and standards, landmark judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, technical briefs on prison law issues, and selected national prison law developments that may serve as comparative references to support legal actions and advocacy.

We have also included analytical and commentary pieces that can strengthen legal arguments and enrich judicial reasoning with evidence-based insights.

Finally, we have gathered key guidance documents developed by international bodies and key human rights NGOs to help law practitioners and human rights defenders prepare their submissions before European and international bodies.

Resources available on the Hub include both original content produced by EPLN and hosted open-access content by international bodies and key human rights NGOs. Hosted content is the property of their authors. These resources were selected and made available on the Hub by EPLN as we consider them particular important and relevant for supporting prison litigation and advocacy.

The Hub is a non-profit information platform designed to facilitate access to legal and practical resources related to fundamental rights in prisons.

For more information, please refer to the Terms of Use of the Knowledge Hub and the Privacy Policy.

Navigation

You can access the resources through the main database and use the search engine and filters (document type, theme, organisation, country, and date range) to refine your search. You may also browse resources through dedicated pages (Guidance, Perspectives, and Themes).

The Prison Law Knowledge Hub is freely accessible and does not require registration. However, to facilitate navigation, you may activate your browser's cookies and save favourites. During future visits, you can easily retrieve your selected resources under the 'Favourites' menu. For more information on cookie usage, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Language

The default language of this site is English. All resources are available through automated translation to facilitate their use in other languages. Translations that were reviewed by the EPLN are flagged as such to the user. Most translations are not systematically reviewed, and the EPLN cannot guarantee their accuracy.

Contribute

The Prison Law Knowledge Hub is meant to be a collaborative tool, built for and by prisoners' rights defenders. If you would like to contribute, suggest improvements or provide feedback, please contact us.

Acknowledgements

The Prison Law Knowledge Hub has been developed by the European Prison Litigation Network, within the framework of the EU-funded DIGNITY project, "Bridging Views for a Rights-Based Approach to Pre-Trial Detention", implemented in partnership with the Centre for European Constitutional Law, the Human Rights Centre ZMINA and Forum Penal – Association of Criminal Lawyers.