UNOPS has the skills and experience to design and manage construction of prisons suitable for post-conflict, disaster-stricken or developing environments.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners has defined leading practices in the management of penal institutions. The layout and details of facilities should offer inmates and staff proper access to water, air, sanitation and light. Incorrectly designed prisons can increase hazards to staff, inmates and the greater community as well as reduce the possibility of rehabilitating inmates. UNOPS designs and constructs prisons that conform to these Standard Minimum Rules in the most difficult locations.

A common error made in building or rehabilitating such prisons is to copy aspects from complex penal facilities in donor countries. This can diminish overall performance of the facility and raise questions about over-expenditure from the local community and government. A better approach is to build simpler prisons that can be operated in the easiest and safest way – facilities that can adapt to more complex use as the local prison service skills improve.

The UNOPS Physical Infrastructure Design Unit (PIDU) has extensive prison design expertise grounded in a comprehensive understanding of prison and detention issues. The UNOPS portfolio includes: maximum, high, medium, and low security prisons, remand centers, juvenile/female detention centers and open/closed rehabilitation centers.  UNOPS is currently involved in prison construction and refurbishment projects in Afghanistan, Guatemala, Liberia, Palestine, Somalia and Sudan.

Afghanistan

UNOPS and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are creating quality prison facilities funded by the Government of Italy in at least 34 provincial regions, for completion by the end of 2010. UNOPS rehabilitated part of the Pol-e-Charki facility in Kabul, providing more humane conditions by adding a high-security compound for serious drug offenders as well as separate facilities for female and juvenile detention. The Gardez and Mazar-i-Sharif provincial prisons have been significantly rehabilitated. In Gardez an existing, mud-brick, outer boundary wall was reconditioned – a cost-effective technique that generates local employment for long-term maintenance and is appropriate at medium security prisons.

Guatemala

UNOPS supervised construction of two new, male detention centers at the prison in Fraijanes contracted by the Ministry of Communication, Infrastructure & Housing. This structure houses 1,200 inmates and the Government of Guatemala provided the $3.41 million funding. UNOPS also helped rehabilitate another facility in Santa Elena, El Petén, with a capacity of 230 inmates. Upgrades to this location include medical and psychological evaluation rooms, renovated cells, internal yards, a visitor area and a wastewater treatment plant. The Government provided funding of $464,000 to carry out these improvements.

Liberia

UNOPS is replacing an existing prison in Sanniquellie in Nimba County with a new, 72-bed complex in two phases. UNOPS is working with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL CAU) and the Liberia National Police (LNP) on a project providing logistical and procurement support adding new corrections officers and equipment to Sanniquellie.

Palestine

UNOPS has established a Program Support Office to aid the EU Police Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS) in developing the Palestinian Civil Police. UNOPS is assisting the construction of a new prison in Jericho that complies with international standards and meets the budget constraints of the Palestinian Authority. The Netherlands Regional Office (NRO) has supplied funding of $6.25 million for the project, due for completion in winter 2010. The capacity of the Jericho facility in the first phase will be 125 inmates, with possible expansion to accommodate a further 100 inmates later.

Somalia

UNOPS is currently involved in the construction of the second phase at Hargeisa prison, Somaliland, which will add female and juvenile inmate cells, a workshop and separate sick bays for men and women at a cost of $600,000. UNOPS is carrying out construction and rehabilitation works as part of the Rule of Law and Security program (ROLS) in Somaliland and Puntland on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme.