Qualifying a convicted person as posing a serious social threat or a serious threat to the security of the prison ("dangerous offenders ") from the perspective of the Council of Europe recommendations and national law

Abstract

Prisoners posing a serious social threat or a serious threat to the security of penitentiary institutions constitute a special group of people isolated in criminal terms. They are not a large group in the population of convicts serving a prison sentence, but they remain in the sphere of interest of international bodies and institutions. The justification is not difficult to indicate. The use of special protection and security measures against these convicts causes a significant interference in the rights and freedoms of the individual, isolation of convicts from the prison community, limiting their contacts with the world outside the prison, especially with the family. Recommendation CM / Rec (2014) 3 on dangerous criminals prompts us to look at the qualification of convicts as a serious social threat or a serious threat to the security of the establishment, especially from the point of view of the legislative changes of 2015 in the Executive Penal Code.