No one should be subjected to abuse in prisons and places of detention. Yet cruel and degrading treatment is all too common in prisons and police cells across Australia. The UN’s anti-torture treaty, the Convention Against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), are designed to end the mistreatment of people behind bars.

Strip searching is carried out routinely in Australian prisons, despite the availability of non-invasive alternatives. Strip searches rob people of their dignity and can be traumatising for survivors of abuse. The Human Rights Law Centre advocates for an end to the use of routine strip searching in Australian prisons.

The Human Rights Law Centre is advocating to change regressive bail laws across the country that are driving up the number of unsentenced people in prison. These dangerous laws are not making the community safer, instead, they are increasing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prisons and targeting women experiencing disadvantage.