Country

Austria

Detention issue

FRA research findings

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Legal instruments & key provisions

Legal instrument Key provision
Penitentiary System Act (Strafvollzugsgesetz) Correspondence, telephone calls and visits shall be prohibited if there is a risk of endangering security and order in the prison or of exerting an unfavourable influence on the detainee.
Penitentiary System Act (Strafvollzugsgesetz) Detainees may receive visits within the specified visiting hours as often and to the extent that their organisation can be guaranteed with reasonable effort. They may not be denied at least one visit lasting at least half an hour every week.
Penitentiary System Act (Strafvollzugsgesetz) Detainees shall, in principle, be entitled to send and receive letters, cards and telegrams without restriction and in compliance with the secrecy of correspondence.
Penitentiary System Act (Strafvollzugsgesetz) Detainees shall be allowed to make telephone calls, in particular to relatives, guardians and social institutions as well as to public bodies, legal advisors and care centres. The content of conversations between detainees and the persons and agencies shall not be monitored.

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS

Year Recommendation Report
2023The location of rooms for long visits should be selected in a way that the visitors do not have to be inside the locked residential area for the detainees. X Rooms for long visits shall facilitate privacy and intimacy. Report details
2022Video telephony should be sufficiently available and available for all inmates Suitable rooms for video telephony shall be provided. It shall be possible to make telephone calls from the cell at all times. An extension of the visiting hours is advisable in the interest of maintaining family and other personal contacts. Report details