The books explore the European Union's judicial and legislative approach to deprivation of liberty. It examines the Union's institutional framework to assess the impact of the collapse of the pillars-based structure and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The books provide a critical analysis of the EU approach to the question of fundamental rights which, the author argues, constitutes the core of the relationship between public powers and personal liberty. These rights include: the principle of proportionality; the principle of legality and proportionality of penalties; right to liberty; the rehabilitative function of custodial penalties. In so doing it concludes that the EU is biased towards individual member states' approach to detention.