incommunicado detention does not involve the complete isolation of the detainee, who has access to an officially appointed lawyer and a forensic physician, the Committee considers that the incommunicado regime, regardless of the legal safeguards for its application, facilitates the commission of acts of torture and ill-treatment’.355 42. An individual held for three years without visits from relatives in an unknown location was held to be a violation of Articles 7 and 10(1) of the ICCPR. 356 However, an earlier case held that 15 days was also in violation of the Covenant.357 43. The UN Standard Minimum Rules require regular contact with family and friends358 and international human rights law requires the right of a detainee to visitors.359 Access to a doctor and denial of medical treatment 44. In addition to the right to access a lawyer, 360 a detainee’s right to prompt and regular access to a doctor is also a crucial safeguard against abuse.361 45. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has recommended that ‘At the time of arrest a person should undergo a medical inspection, and medical inspections should be repeated regularly and should be compulsory upon transfer to another place of detention’.362 46. It has been recommended that the best guarantor of effectiveness in this regard is for detainees to be given the opportunity to undergo a medical examination before a doctor of their choice in addition to any examination by a State appointed official.363 47. Each facility should have ‘at least one qualified medical officer who should have some knowledge of psychiatry’, and ‘sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialised institutions or to civil hospitals’.364 355 Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture: Spain (CAT/C/CR/29/3), at para. 10. Communication 440/1990, Y. El-Megreisi v. the Libyan Arab UN doc. A/49/40 (vol. II), p. 130. 357 Communication 147/1983, L. Arzuaga Gilboa v. Uruguay UN doc. A/41/40, p. 133, para. 14 358 Rule 37. Body of Principles, Principle 15. See also Human Rights Committee, Communication 577/1994, Polay v. Peru6 November 1997. 359 See e.g. Inter-American Commission, Report No. 38/96, Case 10.506 v. Argentina, October 15, 1996, in OAS doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.95, doc. 7 rev.,Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1996. 360 See section VIII.B. below. 361 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No.20, 44th Session (1992), para 11. 362 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, UN Doc.A/56/156, July 2001, para 39(f). See also Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, Principle 24. 363 UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, Principle 25. CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1, p.6, para 36. 364 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Rule 22. 356 73