One of the principles of international human rights law is that the treament of prisoners stays politically neutral. Yet in times of conflict, a state’s war effort can push prisons to carry some of the burden; this can include reorientating prison industries to meet military needs, packing prisons with conscientious objectors, or emptying them to house conscripts during training. More controversially in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, former prisoners with unexpunged sentences have also been recruited into the armed forces. For its part, the state should treat prisoners like any other vulnerable citizen in time of war, taking measures to protect them from the war’s consequences, especially in prisons on or near the battlefield. What no state should ever do is recruit prisoners to fight on the frontline.
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