ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES The Essex Group underscored the critical importance that alternatives are also in line with the respect for a prisoner’s human dignity. For example, the use of laxatives is viewed as bad practice and not respectful of human dignity.45 Body Cavity Searches by Healthcare Professionals Rule 52(2) specifies that body cavity searches ‘shall only be conducted by qualified health-care professionals other than those primarily responsible for the care of the prisoner’. This is in line with medical ethics and the Bangkok Rules.46 The second clause in Rule 52(2), however, recognises that in certain situations this is not possible. Where it is not possible, the Rule provides that the search should not be conducted by the primary health-care provider for the prisoner but by ‘staff appropriately trained by a medical professional in standards of hygiene, health and safety’.47 For example, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture has found that, ‘such examinations [body cavity searches] should only be carried out by a medical practitioner, who is not the treating doctor of the prisoner concerned, and under conditions which respect physical safety and human dignity’.48 The World Medical Association has asserted that: These searches are performed for security reasons and not for medical reasons. Nevertheless, they should not be done by anyone other than a person with appropriate medical training. This non-medical act may be performed by a physician to protect the prisoner from the harm that might result from a search by a non-medically trained examiner. In such a case the physician should explain this to the prisoner. The physician should furthermore explain to the prisoner that the usual conditions of medical confidentiality do not apply during this imposed procedure and that the results of the search will be revealed to the authorities. Finally, the World Medical Association urges all governments and responsible public officials to provide body searches that are performed by a qualified physician whenever warranted by the individual’s physical condition.49 Searches of Visitors Rule 60(1) of the Nelson Mandela Rules provides that visitors must consent to being searched in order to be admitted to the prison and where they do not ‘the prison administration may refuse access’. The experts recalled that during the negotiations it was recognized that searches of See Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 17 to 29 September 2009, CPT/Inf (2010) 33, available at: http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/grc/2010-33-inf-eng.pdf, para. 93; Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 19 to 27 January 2011, CPT/Inf (2012) 1, available at: http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/grc/2012-01-inf-eng.pdf, para. 51. 45  Rule 19 of the Bangkok Rules; World Medical Association Statement on Body Searches of Prisoners, Adopted by the 45th World Medical Assembly, Budapest, Hungary, October 1993 and editorially revised at the 170th Council Session, Divonne-les-Bains, France (May 2005), available at: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b5/ (WMA, Statement on Body Searches of Prisoners) 46  See Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice, Guidance Document on the United Nations Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (The Bangkok Rules) (2013) at 62 – 63 (for a detailed discussion of the standards supporting this point). 47  CPT, Report to the Estonian Government on the Visit to Estonia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from 30 May to 6 June 2012, CPT/Inf (2014) 1 (21 January 2014) at para. 83. 48  WMA, Statement on Body Searches of Prisoners, 212 49  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 17