A/HRC/22/53/Add.4 JRC from simply relocating again to another state. Protections are needed at the federal level to ensure that Level III aversives are brought to an end in the United States of America.The Special Rapporteur understands that, under individualized court orders now in place for JRC patients, the use of Level III aversives have been justified as form of treatment, rehabilitation, habilitation, or education for persons with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur would like to draw attention to mandates‟ recent report on the applicability of the torture and ill-0treatmenet framework in health-care settings (A/HRC/22/53, 1 February 2103). As the report states in paragraph 18, authoritative interpretations of international human rights law by international bodies have established that a violation of the Convention against Torture may occur “where the purpose or intention of the State‟s action or inaction was not to degrade, humiliate or punish the victim, but where this nevertheless was the result.” The report calls into question the concept that medical necessity may ever be used to justify a treatment practice that induces severe emotional or physical pain (see paras. 31-35), “This is particularly the case when intrusive and irreversible, non-consensual treatments are performed on patients from marginalized groups, such as persons with disabilities, notwithstanding claims of good intentions or medical necessity” (para. 32). The Special Rapporteur reminds the Government of paragraph 7a of Resolution 8/8 of the Human Rights Council, according to which corporal punishment, including that of children, can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or even torture. The Special Rapporteur further reminds of his report to the 60th session of the General Assembly, in which he determined that any form of corporal punishment is contrary to the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and that States cannot invoke provisions of domestic law to justify violations of their human rights obligations under international law, including the prohibition of corporal punishment. The Special Rapporteur also reiterates that in paragraph 5 of General Comment No. 20, the Human Rights Committee stated that the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment must extend to corporal punishment, including excessive chastisement ordered as punishment for a crime or as an educative or disciplinary measure. Therefore and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the Special Rapporteur determines that the rights of the students of the JRC subjected to Level III Aversive Interventions by means of electric shock and physical means of restraints have been violated under the UN Convention against Torture and other international standards. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into these continued practices. He calls on the Government to provide information on the Department of Justice‟s (DOJ) investigation into possible violations of civil rights laws and to take measures to prohibit the use of Level III Aversive Interventions for all students on a national level, including those students who had an existing court-approved treatment plan as of 1 September 2011 in Massachusetts. (b) JUA 22/06/2012 Case No. USA 7/2012 State reply: None to date Alleged prolonged solitary confinement and ill-treatment in solitary confinement 150. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of the United States of America has not responded to this communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate established by the Human Rights Council. The communication referred to the alleged prolonged solitary confinement and ill-treatment of Mr. Robert Cuff, a member of the United States Navy, who suffers from brain damage and severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to the information received, Mr. Cuff is incarcerated and held in solitary confinement at the Bossier Parish Medium Correctional Facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, under unsanitary conditions and without access to adequate medical care. In this context, the Special Rapporteur recalls paragraph 6 of General Comment No. 20 of the Human Rights Committee, which states that prolonged solitary confinement of the detained or imprisoned person may amount to acts prohibited by article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 7 of the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, which provides that “efforts addressed to the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged.” The Special Rapporteur 84