ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES Prison file management The Essex group stressed the importance of prisoner file management for both good prison management and for the protection of the rights of prisoners. The UNODC Handbook for Prison Leaders stresses: ‘Ensuring effective data management systems, including the basic prerequisite of maintaining adequate files for individual prisoners, is essential for the effective management of any prison system. (…) Where prison records are poor, there is a great risk of individual prisoners becoming “lost” in the system and no one knows why they are being detained, for how long and when they should be released. In many countries it has happened that “lost” prisoners thought to have been released were “discovered” still in prison many years later. Good prisoner data management is critical to ensuring that their human rights are respected and it is also important in terms of the management of the prison itself.’86 The SPT has emphasised the role of complete and reliable records as ‘one of the fundamental safeguards against torture or ill-treatment’ and as ‘an essential condition for the effective exercise of due process guarantees’.87 Bearing these objectives in mind, the Essex group discussed the considerable changes to the SMR related to prisoner file management, noting that they now exceed the detail provided in regional standards and include: •  Standardised prisoner file management (Rule 6)88 •  Security of information (numbered and signed pages, secure audit trail, prevention of unauthorised access or modification) (Rule 6 and 9) •  Requirement of a valid commitment order for admission (Rule 7, see above) •  Comprehensive personal data (Rule 7) •  Prisoner to have access to his/her records (Rule 9) •  Data recorded throughout the term of imprisonment (Rule 8) •  General data to be extracted on trends (Rule 10) Security of information The Essex group noted that a ‘secure audit trail’ implies meticulously kept records which should include the identity of the staff member who enters, modifies or deletes information in the system as well as the date and time of any additions/revisions/deletions. The experts referred to guidance provided on the secure storage of prisoner files by the UNODC Handbook on prisoner file management89 and the UNOPS Technical Guidance. United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs (UNODC), Handbook for Prison Leaders, New York, 2010, p. 94 (Handbook for Prison Leaders). 86  Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report on the visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to Ukraine, 16 March 2016, CAT/OP/UKR/1. 87  See also, for example SPT Report on visit to Mali, CAT/OP/MLI/1, para. 75. 88  UNODC, Handbook on Prisoner File Management, New York, 2008, Chapter 6. 89  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 29