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as a tool to extort a confession from a detainee awaiting trial is a clear
form of torture and such a confession should be inadmissible in court.48
On the other hand, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human
Rights (ECtHR) does not consider a prisoner’s segregation as amounting
to inhuman treatment in itself.49 In fact, in order to assess whether a
violation of Article 3 takes place with regard to solitary confinement, the
ECtHR considers the particular conditions of the case, the stringency of the
measure, its duration, the objective pursued, and its effects on the person
concerned. Moreover, the duration of such confinement is analysed by the
ECtHR in conjunction with its justification, the need for the measures taken
and their proportionality with regard to other possible restrictions, the
guarantees offered to the applicant and the measures taken by the authorities
to ensure that the applicant’s physical and psychological condition allowed
him to remain in isolation.50 However, according to the ECtHR, complete
sensory isolation coupled with total social isolation is regarded as a form
of inhuman treatment, as it can destroy the personality of the detainee and
cannot be justified by the requirements of security or any other reason.51
In its 21st General Report, the CPT states that the use of solitary confinement
has to be justified in light of the extra restrictions imposed on the already
highly limited rights of people deprived of their liberty. In order to assess
the justification for the imposition of solitary confinement, the CPT uses
a framework elaborated by the ECtHR, which analyses five elements:
proportionality (of the measure as compared to the harm that the detainee
has or is likely to cause, or to the potential harm that could be done to the
prisoner by other detainees), lawfulness (it has to be regulated by domestic
law, which should state the procedure for the imposition, the authorities
who can impose the measure, mechanisms of review and of appeal, rights
of the detainee, and a clear differentiation between each type of solitary
confinement), accountability (full records should be maintained of all
decisions to isolate detainees and of all reviews of the decision), necessity
48. United Nations General Assembly, Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/71/298, 5 August 2016, §46.
49. European Court of Human Rights, Case of Öcalan v. Turkey (No. 2), Applications nos. 24069/03,
197/04, 6201/06 and 10464/07, 18 March 2014, §104.
50. European Court of Human Rights, Case of X v. Turkey, Application no. 24626/09, October 2012, §40.
51. European Court of Human Rights, Case of Öcalan v. Turkey (No. 2), §107.
Monitoring Solitary Confinement in Prison
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