page_title: Prison cell
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Prison cell / Description
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Muzeum Więzienia PawiakEnglish: Pawiak Prison Museum
context_page_description: A prison cell is a small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held. Cells greatly vary by their furnishings, hygienic services, and cleanliness, both across countries and based on the level of punishment to which the person being held has been sentenced. Cells can be occupied by one or multiple people depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, inmate population, facility size, resources, or inmate behavior.
context_section_description: The International Committee of the Red Cross recommends that cells be at least 5.4 m² in size. Prison cells vary in size internationally from  2 m² in Guinea, 3 m² in Poland, 7 m² in Germany to 10 m² in Norway and 12 m² in Switzerland.
  Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 15 December 2015) call for a minimum standard for personal living space in prison establishments is 6m² of living space for a single-occupancy cell or 4m² of living space per prisoner in a multiple-occupancy cell for the prevention of torture
  and inhuman treatment.
  In the United States old prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in dimension which is 48 square feet (moreover however American Correctional Association standards call for a minimum of  70 square feet = 6,5 m²), with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors may have a window that allows the prisoner to be observed from the outside.
  Furnishings and fixtures inside the cell are constructed so that they cannot be easily broken, and are anchored to the walls or floor. Stainless steel lavatories and commodes are also used. This prevents vandalism or the making of weapons.
  There are a number of prison and prison cell configurations, from simple police-station holding cells to massive cell blocks in larger correctional facilities. The practice of assigning only one inmate to each cell in a prison is called single-celling.
  In many countries, the cells are dirty and have very few facilities. Other countries may house many offenders in prisons, making the cells crowded.
caption: 19th century prison cell in Pawiak, Warsaw
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