ABSTRACT
Monitoring of prisons is a multifaceted issue. The European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 entered into force in 1953, and Germany was among the first states to ratify it. The Prison Act regulates rights and duties of prisoners and contains a comprehensive system of complaints procedures and judicial review. The 1977 Prison Act was the first statutory law regulating rights and duties of prisoners. It is applicable to adult sentenced offenders. The efficiency of complaints is often characterized as being very modest, as probably less than 5 per cent of the complaints are successful. A prisoner can appeal to the High Court of the federal state if a complaint to the district court is not successful. At the level of constitutional law, the text of the Convention and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights function as interpretation aids to determine the contents and scope of fundamental rights and of rule-of-law principles of the Basic Law.
