DETENTION MONITORING TOOL FACTSHEET
Endnotes
1. European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Salman vs. Turkey,
Application no. 21986/93, judgment of 27 June 2000, para. 100.
2. Other serious incidents in custody, which are not covered by this
factsheet, are for example prison riots, the taking of hostages, escapes
or mass hunger strikes.
3. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 14th General Report, 2004,
CPT/Inf(2004)28, para. 25.
4. United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
(the Nelson Mandela Rules), UN General Assembly Resolution 70/175,
8 January 2016.
5. United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and
Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules),
UN General Assembly Resolution 65/229, 21 December 2010, Rule 7.
6. Rule 25, the Bangkok Rules.
7. United Nations Human Rights Committee General Comments no.
20, A/44/40, 10 March 1992, para. 8; and no. 31, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/
Add. 13, 26 May 2004, paras. 7 and 17; United Nations Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CAT), Arts. 2 (1) and 16; International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED), Arts. 22
and 23; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Velásquez Rodríguez
vs. Honduras, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. C) No. 4 (1988), judgment of
July 29, 1988, paras. 166–175.
8. Article 1, CAT; and Article 2, CED.
9. Henrique Apolinario, ‘In Brazil, prison riots and killings expose the
structural failures of mass incarceration’, PRI Blog, 28 March 2018,
www.penalreform.org/blog/prison-rioting-and-deaths-in-brazil/.
10. Arts. 3 and 5 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Arts. 6
and 7 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), Arts.
4 and 5 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), Arts.
4 and 5 American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), and Arts. 2
and 3 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).
11. Articles 12 and 13, CAT.
12. Article 12, CED.
13. Rule 56, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
14. Rule 61, the Nelson Mandela Rules; United Nations Rules for the
Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, General Assembly
resolution 45/113, 14 December 1990 (the Havana Rules), para. 78.
15. Rules 30 (b) and 34, the Nelson Mandela Rules; Rule 6 (e), the Bangkok
Rules; the Havana Rules, para. 50; CPT, Documenting and Reporting
Medical Evidence of Ill-Treatment, 23rd General Report, 2013, CPT/
Inf(2013)29, para. 82.
16. Rules 7 and 8, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
17. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(the Istanbul Protocol), HR/P/PT/8/Rev.1, 2004; Rule 34, the Nelson
Mandela Rules.
18. Rule 71, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
19. Rule 57 (2), the Nelson Mandela Rules.
20. Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
UN General Assembly Resolution 55/89, 4 December 2000; Guidelines
of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on eradicating
impunity for serious human rights violations, 30 March 2011.
21. Resolution on the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and
Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment in Africa (the Robben Island Guidelines), 32nd Session,
Banjul, The Gambia, October 2002.
22. It is possible to conceive that, in addition to detainees, deaths of prison
staff members or visitors in prisons constitute a ‘death in custody’.
23. Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form
of Detention or Imprisonment, General Assembly resolution 43/173,
9 December 1988, Principle 34; the Havana Rules, para. 57; compare
also the mandate of the UK Prisons and Probations Ombudsman,
who can also investigate the death of someone who has recently been
released from custody.
24. Rules 8 and 71, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
25. Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful
Death (2016) – The Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective
Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary
Executions, paras. 2 and 17.
26. Government of Western Australia, Department of Corrective
Services, Policy Directive no. 30, Death of a Prisoner – Procedures,
www.correctiveservices.wa.gov.au/_files/prisons/adult-custodial-rules/
policy-directives/pd-30-procedures.pdf.
27. Rule 8(f), the Nelson Mandela Rules.
28. Rule 71, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
10 |
29. Recommendation of the CPT to various Member States, including
to ‘the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, Report on the CPT’s
visit from 6 to 9 December 2016, CPT/Inf (2017) 30, para. 42.
30. Rule 71, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
31. Rule 69, the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Havana Rules (para. 56)
place the obligation to inform a deceased prisoner’s family on the
prison director. It is critical that family of a deceased prisoner do not
learn of the death through unofficial sources, such as other prisoners
or the media.
32. Rule 72, the Nelson Mandela Rules; the Havana Rules, para. 57.
33. Available in Spanish: Ministerio de Gobierno, Dirección General del
Sistema Penitenciario, ‘Protocolo de Actuación en Caso de Muerte de
Personas Privadas de Libertad’, www.sistemapenitenciario.gob.pa/
sites/default/files/img-204012732-0001.pdf.
34. CPT, Report to the Government of Ireland on the visit to Ireland carried
out from 16 to 26 September 2014, CPT/Inf (2015) 38, para. 30.
35. Rules 1 and 24, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
36. In numerous judgments, the ECtHR has held that the right to life
obliges States not only to refrain from the intentional and unlawful
taking of life, but also to take appropriate steps to safeguard the
lives of those within its jurisdiction, and in particular vulnerable
individuals, such as persons in custody. Such positive obligations
may arise, inter alia, in situations of risk to the lives of detainees from
other individuals (see e.g. Paul and Audrey Edwards vs. the United
Kingdom, Application no. 46477/99, judgment of 14 March 2002); in
cases of suicide in detention (see e.g. Keller vs. Russia, Application
no. 26824/04, judgment of 17 October 2013); lack of medical care
(see e.g. Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu
vs. Romania, Application no. 47848/08, (GC) judgment of 17 July
2014); or generally inhuman living conditions which lead to the death
of inmates (see e.g. Nencheva and Others vs. Bulgaria, Application no.
48609/06, judgment of 18 June 2013).
37. Response of the Government of Ireland to the CPT’s visit report, CPT/
Inf (2015) 39, September 2015, p18.
38. The Washington Post, ‘“Profound dehydration”: Milwaukee County
sheriff’s officers charged in death of inmate denied water for a week’,
13 February 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/
wp/2018/02/13/profound-dehydration-milwaukee-county-sheriffsofficers-charged-in-death-of-inmate-denied-water-for-a-week/?utm_
term=.3cee85699ab5.
39. E.g. European Commission, Directorate General for Transport, Serious
Injuries, September 2015.
40. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Aide-Memoire
of 3 December 1992.
41. CPT, Health Care Services in Prisons, 3rd General Report, 1993, CPT/
Inf(93)12, para. 35.
42. Istanbul Protocol, paras. 149 and 203 et seq.
43. Ibid., Chapter VI.
44. Rule 30, the Nelson Mandela Rules; Rule 6, the Bangkok Rules;
Havana Rules, para. 50. See also CPT, Documenting and Reporting
Medical Evidence of Ill-Treatment, para. 73.
45. Rule 31, the Nelson Mandela Rules; Rule 11, the Bangkok Rules; CPT,
Health Care Services in Prison, para. 51.
46. Rule 10 (2), the Bangkok Rules.
47. CPT, Imprisonment, 2nd General Report, 1992, CPT/Inf(92)3, para. 53;
CPT, Documenting and Reporting Medical Evidence of Ill-Treatment,
para. 73.
48. Istanbul Protocol, HR/P/PT/8/Rev.1, 2004.
49. Istanbul Protocol, para. 83; Annex III of the Istanbul Protocol contains
model body charts.
50. CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried
out from 4 to 16 April 2013, CPT/Inf (2014) 26, para. 126.
51. Rule 34, the Nelson Mandela Rules.
52. Rule 34, the Nelson Mandela Rules. According to CPT standards, an
indication of ill-treatment should be automatically reported, regardless
of the wishes of the detainee. See CPT, Documenting and Reporting
Medical Evidence of Ill-Treatment, para. 77.
53. According to Rule 7 (1) of the Bangkok Rules, whether a referral of the
case for investigation is made depends on the informed consent of the
woman prisoner concerned.
54. CPT, Documenting and Reporting Medical Evidence of Ill-Treatment,
para. 82.
55. Rule 54, the Nelson Mandela Rules; the Havana Rules, para. 24.
56. Rule 56, the Nelson Mandela Rules; the Havana Rules, paras. 75
and 76.
57. CPT, Imprisonment, para. 54.
58. Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia, Special Report on
Requests/Complaints Mechanism in Penitentiary System of Georgia,
9 November 2015.
Penal Reform International and Association for the Prevention of Torture | Incident management and independent investigations
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