Violations of the right to food during deprivation of liberty: a global socio-legal assessment of United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment mission reporting on selected prisons since 2015

Van Hout et al. BMC Public Health (2025) 25:3818 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25310-7 BMC Public Health Open Access RESEARCH Violations of the right to food during deprivation of liberty: a global socio-legal assessment of United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment mission reporting on selected prisons since 2015 Marie Claire Van Hout1, Ulla-Britt Klankwarth2, Lisa Glaum3 and Heino Stöver2* Abstract Background States have a heightened duty of care owed to persons deprived of their liberty extending beyond the prohibition of torture and discrimination. Due to their complete reliance on the State, provision of adequate and quality nutrition in prison is a fundamental human right of those detained. Failure to meet the basic requirements of sustenance or deny/restrict food constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or even torture. Methods In order to examine global progress in protecting and upholding the rights of people living in prisons to adequate food and nutrition, we conducted a global socio-legal assessment of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Treaty Bodies (Committee against Torture, Committee for the Rights of the Child, Human Rights Committee, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women); and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) mission reporting on selected prisons since 2015. A comprehensive global search in English and French was conducted on the Council of Europe and the UN Human Rights Treaty databases. Following double screening, the final dataset of 237 reports spanning six continents (129 countries) was charted, tabularized against norms and standards (UN Nelson Mandela Rules, Bangkok Rules, the European Prison Rules) and analyzed thematically. Results Identified areas of concern and possible human rights violations documented by prison inspections centered on six key themes: geographies where the right to adequate food in prisons is of concern; inadequacy of food provision; poor food preparation practices, environmental health standards and disease; reliance on external support for *Correspondence: Heino Stöver Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Hout Van et al. BMC Public Health (2025) 25:3818 Page 2 of 16 food, corruption and exploitation; food as punishment and control measure; and vulnerability of special populations in prison. Conclusions Despite international and regional human rights norms and assurances, prison inspections revealed that standards and adequacy of food and nutrition in prisons are often lacking due to resource scarcity, violence, punishment, inter-personal dynamics and corruption. UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies and CPT inspections must continue to thoroughly assess food standards and provision in prisons, ensure that the denial or restriction of food as punishment is prohibited, and include a focus on those with gender and age-related, religious and medical needs. Keywords Food, Nutrition, Hunger, Prison, Deprivation of liberty, Human rights Background The global prison population of 11.5 million on any given day continues to rise, with an increase of 24% observed since 2000 [1]. The number of people who cycle in and out of prison each year however remains undetermined. One in three individuals in prison globally are presumed innocent and held on remand [1]. The poor, marginalized, members of ethnic minority and Indigenous peoples, and key populations (gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs) are disproportionately affected by incarceration [1]. – [2] Prison overcrowding remains a substantial issue globally, generally due to excessive use of pre-trial detention, with 61% of countries reported to be operating above capacity, 34% between 100 and 150%, and 27% above 150% [3]. – [4] Overcrowding substantially affects the availability of resources including access to clean drinking water, food, sanitation and hygiene, and appropriate healthcare [1]. Due to their complete reliance on the state for protection and basic needs provisions, people living in prison are vulnerable to the consequences of spatial and resource scarcity, which can include corruption, inter-personal violence, predatory behaviors and transactional sexual activity in return for protection or privilege (basic provisions including soap, bedding and food) [1, 3, 5–8]. The 2024 report by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment recognized the ongoing challenge of prison overcrowding by stating “(.) the struggle for space and resources within prisons create circumstances in which torture, violence, and corruption thrive.” [8]. Reliance on the state and basic human right to food States have a heightened duty of care owed to persons deprived of their liberty extending beyond the prohibition of torture and discrimination [8] and are obliged to ensure that sufficient and adequate food is available to all detainees [9]. A special diet must be provided to certain detainee categories (pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children, people with certain medical needs) and in accordance with cultural and religious practices [9]. The UN Human Rights Committee outlines that “(.) the State party by arresting and detaining individuals takes the responsibility to care for their life”, and that it is “incumbent on States to ensure the right of life of detainees, and not incumbent on the latter to request protection.” [10] These responsibilities are relevant to all aspects of the right to life, health and well-being, and protection from harm. Rule 1 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) states that “[a]ll prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings. No prisoner shall be subjected to, and all prisoners shall be protected from, torture and (...truncated)