Because the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners represent what the international community considers minimum standards of respectability and decency in the treatment of prisoners, they are very influential. Unfortunately, they include no underlying rationale, an omission that is a major obstacle to interpretation and implementation. Also, they do not emphasize or even accord much place to the key United Nationals (UN) stated principle of the inherent dignity of the human person, upon which so much else depends. The rules say very little about justice or criminal justice and leave largely to those working in the field the task of deriving from the text underlying principles of justice. The rules tend to reflect prevailing practice and perpetuate the conventional wisdom according to which penal justice is fundamentally punitive and retributive. An interim step to a thorough review of the rules would be a strengthening of the statement of principle. This step would serve to provide a basis for interpreting and implementing the rules other than in conventional ways and in ways more in keeping with the UN's long-standing concern for human dignity and the development of the human person. (A suggested resolution to amend the rules is appended.) (YLB)