3. INCIDENT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE 3.3. INVESTIGATIONS 68 There is a specific obligation for states to investigate deaths, serious injuries and disappearances that occur in the context of detention. Prison authorities need to launch an internal inquiry in such cases. However, even where this is the case, impartial and thorough investigations need to also be carried out by independent bodies, given conflicts of interest.204 The Mandela Rules do not include any detailed guidance on such investigations because the Rules only provide guidance for prison administrations and staff, and because other international standards deal with the conduct of independent investigations in such contexts.205 Rather, the Mandela Rules focus on the obligations of prison administrations and prison staff if a death, disappearance or serious injury occurs, or if suspicion of torture or other ill‑treatment arises in their facility. In all cases, the state bears the burden of evidentiary proof to rebut the presumption of its responsibility for violations of the right to life and for torture and ill‑treatment of those in its custody.206 RELEVANT RULES: INVESTIGATIONS Rule 8(f): The following information shall be entered in the prisoner file management system in the course of imprisonment, where applicable: (...) (f) Information on the circumstances and causes Rule 71: 1. Notwithstanding the initiation of an internal investigation, the prison director shall report, without delay, any custodial death, disappearance or serious injury to a judicial or other competent authority that is independent of the prison administration and mandated to conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations 204 205 206 2. The obligation in paragraph 1 of this rule shall equally apply whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has been committed in prison, irrespective of whether a formal complaint has been received. 3 of any injuries or death and, in the case of the latter, the destination of the remains. into the circumstances and causes of such cases. The prison administration shall fully cooperate with that authority and ensure that all evidence is preserved. 3. Whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act referred to in paragraph 2 of this rule has been committed, steps shall be taken immediately to ensure that all potentially implicated persons have no involvement in the investigation and no contact with the witnesses, the victim or the victim’s family. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Accountability and identification of institutional shortcomings 69 Investigations into deaths, disappearances and serious injuries are crucial to determine the facts of individual cases and to hold anyone responsible to account. Institutions can also learn from the findings of such investigations and improve policy and practice accordingly. Even where the investigation reveals no serious failures or shortcomings in particular facilities, the results of investigations can help inform and improve existing policy and practice in other facilities, or to make system-wide improvements. 204. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture has clarified that, in cases of torture or other ill‑treatment the investigative body must be “independent from those implicated in the allegation and with no institutional or hierarchical connection between the investigators and the alleged perpetrators”. See: Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, A/68/295, op. cit. note 57, para. 64. 205. Detailed guidance on the modalities of such investigations can be found in the UN Principles on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, General Assembly resolution 55/89, 4 December 2000; and the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/65, 24 May 1989; the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘Istanbul Protocol’), OHCHR, Professional Training series No. 8/Rev.1 (2004); the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death: the Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, 2016; and the Council of Europe, Effective investigation of ill‑treatment Guidelines on European standards, second edition 2014. 206. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, A/68/295, op. cit. note 57, para. 62. Guidance document on the Nelson Mandela Rules 91