DETENTION MONITORING TOOL FACTSHEET In order to prevent possible reprisals against persons who make a complaint or allege ill-treatment, the confidentiality of complaints against prison staff should be safeguarded.59 This could be achieved by means of personal meetings between prisoners and the director, or between prisoners and higher prison authorities or prison inspectors and monitors; sealed complaints boxes that can only be opened by the director or external complaints bodies; and the possibility of uncensored correspondence with certain institutions. Any internal complaint that reaches the director or higher administration of a prison should be recorded and followed up. Priority should be given to any complaint alleging torture or ill-treatment.60 Denunciations of criminal behaviour, such as acts of torture or other forms of more severe ill-treatment,61 should be forwarded without delay to the authorities responsible for criminal investigations, such as the criminal police, the prosecutor’s office or a judicial authority, and, depending on the national system, to other independent bodies. Even if the alleged ill-treatment falls below the threshold of criminal behaviour, such as in cases of insulting or disrespectful behaviour by prison staff that could amount to degrading treatment, an investigation by an authority independent of the prison should be triggered.62 What could monitoring bodies check? • Can prisoners directly and personally approach the director of the facility or their representatives? • Do prisoners have access to the higher prison administration, as well as to independent external authorities? • Are prisoners informed, both upon admission and routinely after, of the available internal and external avenues of complaint, and the procedures to lodge a complaint? • Do prisoners have access to items necessary for lodging a complaint? • Is the confidentiality of complaints safeguarded? • Are all internal complaints recorded and responded to? • Are all internal complaints containing allegations of torture or ill-treatment promptly forwarded to an independent investigative authority? Disappearances An enforced disappearance is a crime under international law,63 which typically combines a number of serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrest and detention and the torture and/or killing of the victim. Additionally, it has been acknowledged that the disappearance of a person causes severe anguish to family members, which may constitute a human rights violation in itself.64 ‘Enforced disappearance’ is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law. (Article 2 CED). Not every person who goes missing is necessarily a victim of an enforced disappearance; however, it is upon the State to account for every person that the authorities have taken into custody,65 and to provide an explanation with regard to their whereabouts. Therefore, if there are allegations or other serious grounds to believe that a person has disappeared, an independent investigation into their fate has to be carried out.66 There are specific measures to prevent the disappearance of persons who are in State custody. In particular, persons deprived of liberty should only be held in officially recognised places of detention and should have regular access to the outside world (such as family visits, communication with legal representatives, phone calls, correspondence, etc.). So-called ‘incommunicado detention’, during which a detained person is denied any contact with family members, lawyers and other persons outside the prison, should be abolished or kept to an absolute minimum, with strict safeguards in place.67 Record-keeping is another key measure to prevent disappearances. Prison and other authorities responsible for custody should compile and maintain up-to-date official records (electronic databases or registers) of persons deprived of liberty. Penal Reform International and Association for the Prevention of Torture | Incident management and independent investigations |7