Country

Germany

Detention issue

FRA research findings

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Legal instruments & key provisions

Legal instrument Key provision
German Constitutional Law The prisoner’s right to extramural contact is provided for in the German Constitutional Law, in particular through the protection of marriage and family and the right to freedom of expression.
Federal State Level Acts State legislation differs in respect to the regulation of minimum visiting hours of the prisoners, from at least one hour (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein) to a minimum of 4 hours per month (Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony). All state legislation provides the prisoner’s right to written correspondence.

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS

Year Recommendation Report
2021Before the Covid-19 pandemic, prisoners at Straubing and Landsberg am Lech Prisons were only allowed to make telephone calls – as in all Bavarian prisons as per Article 35 of the Bavarian Prison Act – upon request and “in urgent cases”, for example if they otherwise had no visitors or if a relative had died. This made Bavaria the only Land where, apart from actual visits, the external contacts of prisoners were, in normal times, limited to letters. Report details
2022Additional communication options – such as video calls – were introduced in almost all of the prisons during the coronavirus pandemic in order to facilitate contact with the outside world. In a number of facilities, prisoners can now request video calls in addition to visits. The National Agency also found that prisons were increasingly installing telephones in the cells. Report details