Vatican City, Nov 25, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II called on all nations this morning to ensure that prisoners are guaranteed their basic human rights and that alternative penalties to prison be sought and developed to include programs of “human, professional and spiritual formation.”
The Pope delivered this message to directors of prison administrations from the 45 countries that adhere to the Council of Europe. They were in Rome to discuss how European prison can better respond to the needs of inmates.
“In every civil nation there must be shared concern for preserving the inalienable rights of every human being,” he told them, recalling that the European value for human dignity is rooted in Christianity.
“You must correct eventual laws and norms which hinder (these rights), especially when it is a matter of the right to life and to health, the right to culture, to work, to the exercise of freedom of thought and to the profession of one's own faith,” he instructed.