Samenvatting

Dutch detention law seems to meet all standards of the normative European Prison Rules. There is however no reason for self-satisfaction, because other relevant international standards have so far received little attention. The author discusses the Bangkok Rules, the Istanbul Protocol, the Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikers and the European Code of Ethics for Prison Staff. All of these documents give rise to adaptations or additions of existing Dutch penitentiary law. The author suggests that it would be best to develop a new general detention law containing basic norms for the treatment of everyone deprived of his freedom, irrespective of the detention’s legal title.