Derecho Penal y Unión EuropeaMotivos para armonizar el derecho penal de los Estados miembros en fase de ejecución penitenciaria

Abstract

This communication focuses on the need to harmonize the criminal law of the different Member States of the European Union through the adoption of a Community Directive that covers basic aspects of prison enforcement. The commitment that the European Union has been consolidating towards the fundamental rights of its citizenship cannot be materialized without the existence of minimum guarantees that oblige all the Member States. The experience of the Council of Europe in prisons, as well as the activity that it has been developing in the penitentiary environment for several decades, advise that the European Union may adopt measures to protect and safeguard the human dignity of those serving prison sentences. Punishments and inhuman and degrading treatment are a proscribed threat that Europe cannot allow but, despite this, having examined the contributions of the Council of Europe to this issue, they can endanger the common values on which the Union is based, that is, dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity.