US Prisoners Exchange Policy

 Introduction

Prisoners exchange is the process of transferring prisoners to their home countries under the provisions of the governing treaty. The prisoners' exchange programs play a significant role in eliminating the hardships that offenders experience while being imprisoned in the alien nation.  It is important to understand there is a difference between prisoner exchange and extradition, as the latter occurs when one state requests other states to take legal action and punish the offender. There are prisoner transfer treaties that connect the sentencing and receiving countries when planning for the prisoner's transfer. Prisoners exchange is a good national policy aimed at giving relief to the distressed prisoners and controlling the transnational organized crime.

Both extradition and prisoner exchanges involve the transfer of criminals from one country to another. However, the two are different in that they have distinct procedures in that extradition occurs when a country surrenders an offender to another country. In other words,   when an offender commits  a crime in one country  and escapes to another country,   the  charging country   requests the  other country to   put the offender  on  trial  through consulting the  Office  of  International Affairs.  On the other hand, prisoner exchange is a process that involves the transfer of criminals from their own country to other countries to face trial for the crimes they have committed (Bassiouni, 2014). According to my personal opinion, I think the significant difference between the two is on the purpose or goal of transporting the offender.   In the prisoner exchange, there is an agreement between the nations that criminals will be transported for completion of the trial whereas, on extradition, there should be an extradition request and approval.  An example of the prisoner exchanges is the prisoner's incarceration of   Ukrainian criminals in Russia and Russian criminals in Ukraine.  However, the Ukrainian government wants the Ukrainians to be freed from Russia since it values its citizens who are suffering from beatings and torture (Bassiouni, 2014). An example of extradition is the extradition of   Robert James from Pennsylvania to Canada for committing sexual offense through the internet.

Example of statutes involved in the exchange of prisoners are as follows; exchange of prisoners and extradition is allowed under the international treaties and relationships.  Any person in a foreign country is subject to the laws and regulations of that country and violation of the law may result to arrest.  Another statute is that the offense is referred to as extraditable under the rules in the foreign and own country (Bassiouni, 2014).  The countries should also come to an agreement that the offender will be denied liberty or may face a severe penalty for at least one year, and both nations should define the offense using similar terminology.  Extradition should not be requested for political offense and offenses which are not political offense include murder, kidnapping, inducing or counseling toward committing a crime, violent crimes and more (Bassiouni, 2014).  Another important statute is that if the requesting state confirms that the offense is subject to the death penalty, the requested state should not accept the extradition unless the requesting state eliminates the death penalty.

            Exchange of prisoners is a good national policy.  This is because it is important for countries to cooperate in criminal matters as long as there are a legal framework and mechanism for the exchange of prisoners.  This is mutual legal assistance and a comprehensive strategy where countries can combat and prevent all forms of crimes. Since all states are in a borderless world where it is easy to transport or exchange information, people and other goods, countries should enjoy the globalization advantages such as reduction of national and international crime (Bassiouni, 2014).  However, I would change the policy since the current statute is convoluted.  The new proposal includes building an integrated scheme which would offer an appropriative balance between the rights of those who are extradited and effective mechanism for the process (Bassiouni, 2014).   It is important to have a central authority that would play a role in managing the extradition request, examining the foreign applications, examining how extraditions are conducted and more importantly protect the rights where necessary.

To the US citizens prisoners who claim that they were tortured in foreign prison, I would inform them that; first, torture is illegal and unacceptable. In addition, inmates have the right to challenge the status of the custody and the Bill of Rights to protect inmates against torture (Pyle, 2001).  I would also inform them that exchange of prisoners is a process where offenders are authorized to move to a foreign country to answer criminal charges, and the countries should adhere to the agreement.  It is also important for the prisoners to know that the exchange of prisoners is not a clear violation of the 8th Amendment right. The latter states that inmates have fundamental rights and no one should violate the human dignity. Inmates also have the right to challenge the condition of confinement and report the officers who show ‘deliberate indifference’ (Pyle, 2001).  It is the role of the prisoners to make sure that their constitutional rights are not violated by filling complaint form.  Thus, the exchange or prisoners does not violate the 8th Amendment, but the two work together to ensure that inmates' rights are met.  However, actions toward the cruel and unusual punishment should be taken, and such actions include direct prevention or torture such as education, training, and monitoring of the prison officers and indirect prevention such as prosecution and sanction (Pyle, 2001).  The international legal framework should also be re-stated to ensure that officers adhere to rules and regulation.  Another important point is that the U.S legal process is in favor of the complaints in that it has a Uniform Criminal Extradition Act that contains the individual's right.  The U.S also protects and values its citizens since it does not allow the inmates face the death penalty in foreign prisons.  

 

 Conclusion

All countries need to cooperate in controlling the crime.  Even though the law enforcement has a significant role, all sectors of society in the states need to collaborate and use the conservative approaches to combatting crime.  Police exchange and extradition offer legal assistance in different areas such as controlling the international borders, prosecuting, and preventing future crime.

 

 

 

References

 

Bassiouni, M. C. (2014). International extradition: United States law and practice. New York, NY : Oxford

University Press

 

Pyle, C. H. (2001). Extradition, politics, and human rights. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.