ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES or mental state of the person, constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.303 Where such punishments cause severe pain or suffering, they constitute torture.304 The experts noted further examples such as the ‘deliberate non-separation of inmates from persons with active tuberculosis, and the denial of medical assistance’.305 The practice of frequent transfers to remote locations and different places in the country has been documented as a problematic form of punishment or reprisal, often taking place without the families being informed and in degrading conditions (poor state of vehicles, long periods of travel, sometimes without food).306 (See Chapter 3, Contact with the outside world – transfers) The experts noted reports about ‘combinations’ of prohibited practices, such as disciplinary and solitary confinement cells with poor material conditions and hygiene, without drinking water or inadequate lighting or ventilation, freezing or hot temperatures.307 Collective punishment The Essex group highlighted that the prohibition of collective punishment in Rule 43(e) reflects a well-established principle in human rights law. The experts referred to comparable prohibitions enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights, the former stating that ‘[p]unishment is personal and can only be imposed on the offender’.308 The Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas emphasise that ‘[t]he imposition of collective punishments shall be prohibited by law’.309 The experts underlined that the term ‘collective punishment’ describes sanctions intentionally directed at the whole prison population, a group of prisoners or specific ones (for example prisoners in a specific cell) for infractions for which they bear no responsibility. An example was mentioned, documented by the SPT, where ‘extended lock-downs were used as a form of collective punishment for all those in a block or unit where there has been an incident, regardless of their involvement in an alleged offence’.310 I/A Court H.R., Case of Pacheco Teruel et al v. Honduras. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of April 27, 2012. Series C No. 241, para. 67.k. 303  See, for instance, Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Nigel S. Rodley, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/37 B, E/CN.4/1997/7, 10 January 1997, paras. 7-8; Curtis Francis Doebbler v Sudan (236/2000), African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2003), para. 42; Caesar v Trinidad and Tobago (Ser. C No. 123), Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2005), para. 73. 304  SPT Report on visit to Ukraine, CAT/OP/UKR/1, para. 133. 305  See for example Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Argentina, 27 November 2013, CAT/OP/ARG/1, para. 37; see also CPT 2nd General Report, para. 57. 306  A report by the SPT on its visit to Ukraine is referred to in this context merely as an illustrative example, SPT Report on visit to Ukraine, CAT/OP/UKR/1, para. 116. See also SPT, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Kyrgyzstan, 28 February 2014, CAT/OP/ KGZ/1, para. 84. Flooding of punishment cells with rainwater have been documented in Brazil, for example (see SPT, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Brazil, 5 July 2012, CAT/OP/BRA/1, para. 124.) 307  Article 7(2) of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights; Article 5(3) of the American Convention on Human Rights. 308  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas. Principle XXII.4. 309  SPT, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to New Zealand, 28 July 2014, CAT/OP/NZL/1, para. 37. 310  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 85