[GA, passed] - Prisoner Financial Rights

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Prisoner Financial Rights
Category: Civil Rights | Strength: Mild
Proposed by: The Ice States, Co-authored by: Sanctaria | Onsite Topic​

Whereas the practice of financially penalising individuals for their incarceration, such as through "pay-to-stay" policies, is unjust; and

Whereas this practice often keeps former prisoners in a cycle of debt, thereby actively impeding the reintegration of prisoners into society while causing many prisoners to return to crime;

The World Assembly enacts as follows.

  1. No individual may suffer any financial penalty, or otherwise be required to provide any payment, where that burden would not exist but for their incarceration and is intended to fund their incarceration or otherwise recuperate costs associated therewith.

  2. Creditors must fully relieve all debts owed by an individual as a result of a required financial penalty or payment of the nature proscribed by Section 1. Member nations must terminate bankrupt status, and expunge records thereof not purely for the purpose of administrative record-keeping, where such status is as a result of any debt of the nature proscribed by Section 1.

  3. Should a provision of this resolution contradict a past World Assembly resolution still in force, that previous resolution takes precedence.
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Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations, NPA personnel, and those on NPA deployments will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote. If you are on an NPA deployment without being formally registered as an NPA member, name your deployed nation in your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

ForAgainstAbstainPresent
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Overview
This resolution effectively bans the practice in real life in some states for "pay to stay" prisons, i.e., for prisoners to be charged for staying in the prison in the first place. It also has a clause that expunges from records any prisoner bankrupted as a result of failing to pay for the prison stay itself.

Recommendation
This is a fairly novel area for the General Assembly: payments for prison stays. IRL this is a bigger issue in the United States (more than some other countries) and it is an issue that does enhance civil rights and help disadvantaged prisoners. We believe it also prevents a backdoor increase in the fines paid for the offence - that the prisoner is fined for an offence (if fined) and then fined a second time (having to pay for the prison stay).

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the at-vote GA resolution, "Prisoner Financial Rights".
 
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For

No particular issues beyond aforementioned formatting such; however, I do believe some flaws present themselves purely as a result of the proposal's mildness. Personally I don't really see the point of the proposal if it only addresses one easily-circumventable part of an unjust system of penalisation.
 
I am for this proposal. It forms part of the growing corpus of legislation that delineates which punishments are acceptable under the law of the General Assembly.
 
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