2. SAFETY, SECURITY AND DIGNITY FOR ALL 92 Discrimination against persons with disabilities is likely to be intensified in prisons. As UNODC points out “[p]risoners with disabilities encounter difficulties in accessing services, complying with rules and participating in prison activities that do not take account of their special needs. Due to architectural barriers, prisoners with mobility impairments may be unable to access dining areas, libraries, sanitary facilities, work, recreation and visiting rooms. Prisoners with visual disabilities cannot read their own mail unassisted or prison rules and regulations, unless they are provided in Braille. They are unable to use the library, unless taped materials or books in Braille are available. Prisoners with a hearing or speaking disability may be denied interpreters, making it impossible for them to participate in various prison activities, including counselling programmes, as well as their own parole and disciplinary hearings. Prisoners with disabilities can be routinely denied participation in work programmes outside prison, sometimes significantly lengthening their periods of imprisonment.”144 93 The ECtHR has ruled that denial of accessible conditions and/or reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities while in custody amounts to inhuman or degrading treatment.145  2 144. Ibid, p. 45. 145. See for example: Price v. the United Kingdom, Application no. 33394/96, 10 July 2001; Vincent v. France, Application no. 6253/03, 24 October 2006; Grimailovs v. Latvia, Application no. 6087/03, 25 June 2013; Semikhvostov v. Russia, Application no. 2689/12, 2014; Asalya v. Turkey, Application no. 43875/09, 15 April 2014 and Z.H. v. Hungary, Application no. 28973/11, 8 November 2012. Guidance document on the Nelson Mandela Rules 71

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