E/CN.4/1997/7 page 32 at night; rape or the insertion of objects into the vagina; and pricking the penis with large pins or tying the penis with a string and pulling. 131. The vast majority of officials engaging in torture or ill-treatment were said to act with impunity. The courts reportedly rarely investigated complaints of torture, examined medical evidence, questioned the lack of medical treatment from a prisoner who alleges that he or she was tortured, or declared evidence or confessions of guilt inadmissible when extracted by torture. The courts were also said seldom to enforce the legal limits on the duration of detention periods. Lawyers defending prisoners alleged to have been tortured had reportedly faced threats to their employment and received excessively high income tax bills to dissuade them from taking up such cases. 132. The denial of medical care to prisoners was alleged to be prevalent. Private doctors are reportedly frequently denied access to prisoners or must pass through such hurdles as obtaining a court order in order to gain such access. Doctors who were able to examine prisoners allegedly faced intimidation from warders. Detainees and prisoners were often refused access to hospitals and, even when taken, were sometimes removed from hospital before treatment had commenced or been completed. 133. In a reply dated 18 March 1996 the Government stressed that torture as a means of intimidation or extracting confessions from prisoners or witnesses was prohibited and confessions obtained as a result of torture or intimidation were inadmissible in a court of law. Indeed, there had been instances when the courts had rejected such evidence. In cases where police officers had overstepped their bounds, they had been called upon to face the law and if it were established that they had committed an offence, the officers were punished. Law enforcement officers were instructed to follow both Kenyan national law and the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials. Those officers who exceed lawful force are subjected to criminal prosecution and/or disciplinary measures. In recent times, the Attorney General has acted in about 25 cases, sanctioning 48 law enforcement officers on various charges, such as murder and manslaughter, torture, and/or had directed public inquests to be held. 134. It was untrue that courts consistently failed to investigate complaints of torture. There had been many instances when officials were summoned to court to produce suspects held in police custody. Such orders had always been complied with. The Commissioners of Police and Prisons had on several occasions been ordered by courts to take suspects to hospital or to allow private doctors to visit those being detained. While it was true that fees for courts and lawyers were higher than the average Kenyan might be able to afford, this problem was economic in nature and could best be solved by development projects geared to raising the standards of living of the entire citizenry. 135. There had never been a deliberate attempt by the Government to deny prisoners medical facilities. The Prisons Act required prison officers to take ill prisoners to hospital and the Ministry of Health managed prison health facilities with the available resources. Private doctors were also allowed to treat prisoners within the procedures stipulated in the Prison Rules. However, poor health facilities were a national problem stemming from