CAT/OP/CHL/1 49. The Subcommittee recommends that the State party ensure that regular, unannounced visits to courthouse holding cells and places of detention run by the Carabineros and the investigative police are undertaken by the Public Criminal Defence Service, the Attorney General’s Office and the judiciary. During these visits, confidential interviews should be conducted with persons deprived of their liberty in order to detect cases of torture and ill-treatment and to assist victims, provide them with adequate protection against retaliation, investigate what occurred and hand down administrative and criminal penalties. V. Health 50. The Subcommittee was informed by the State party that persons deprived of their liberty were routinely examined by medical staff upon their arrest before being taken to the police station. The Subcommittee was concerned to note that this action was taken only in cases where injury had clearly been inflicted. The majority of persons deprived of their liberty who were interviewed in police stations and prisons stated that they had not had contact with health-care staff. 51. At Carabineros stations, there is a health questionnaire that must be completed by detainees. The form includes questions about whether they have any illnesses, whether they take medication and whether they have been injured. If a detainee responds in the affirmative, the document is deemed invalid, as indicated in a clause included on the form, and he or she must be taken to hospital. The form is filled out by a police officer on the basis of an interview with the detainee, who then signs it. The police officer assesses the detainee’s injuries and other ailments. Both the medical examination and the assessment in this area should be carried out only by medical staff. 52. The Subcommittee is seriously concerned to note that, when detainees are taken to hospital to have their injuries assessed, they are examined in the presence of the officer accompanying them, which violates their inalienable right to privacy and medical confidentiality. It appears that doctors often ask detainees about the existence of injuries without carrying out a visual or more thorough examination. The Subcommittee identified detainees with undetected illnesses, as confirmed by subsequent medical reports, which required medication or other treatments. After a second medical examination had been carried out at the Subcommittee’s request, the patients returned to the police station to find themselves in the same situation that they had been in before: with no proper care, no medication and no monitoring of the illness for which they had been examined, as the Subcommittee was able to confirm by examining the medical report. Furthermore, medical assessments are handed to the police officer by the doctor, which undermines confidentiality and creates a risk of reprisal. 53. The Subcommittee recommends that, following their arrest, all detainees be given medical examinations in a public health institution as a matter of course. The examination should take place in private, and the health record should be filled in by health-care staff. It also recommends that: standard operating procedures be established for these examinations, with particular emphasis being placed on the proactive detection of injuries, in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol; that there be a written attestation of the detainee-patient’s consent; and that the report, in accordance with the need to preserve confidentiality, be delivered in a sealed envelope addressed to the judge responsible for procedural safeguards. The health-care system is also urged to keep a record of injuries identified as being compatible with torture and ill-treatment and of allegations made by persons deprived of their liberty who have been examined. 54. The Subcommittee found that the medical services in some of the places of detention that were visited were run properly. In others, the Subcommittee received complaints from inmates, health-care workers and prison officers about the difficulty of obtaining a medical appointment and the lack of follow-up, medication and patient monitoring. 55. Interviews with inmates in detention facilities and subsequent checks of their medical records revealed that discrepancies exist between the information contained in GE.17-07771 9