ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES effective investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (“the Istanbul Protocol).260 Their qualifications should be commensurate with the nature of the decisions they are required to take and with their reporting responsibilities. For example, the head of a team should be a qualified medical doctor. Rule 30(b) should be read together with Rule 34 on documentation. The Essex Group noted that ill-treatment is not only physical but can also be mental. In order to identify any ill-treatment, they pointed out that it is necessary to talk to the prisoner as not all signs of ill-treatment will be obvious or visible. In Rule 30(c), the Essex Group noted that the requirement to identify ‘any signs of psychological or other stress’ is particularly important in relation to prisoners in the first 24 hours of detention, pretrial and remand and high risk prisoners.261 The Essex Group underscored that Rule 30 must be read together with Rules 6 – 8 of the Bangkok Rules that set out the women-specific dimensions to the health screening (although some also apply to men) on entry. Rule 6 provides that this ‘shall include comprehensive screening to determine primary health-care needs, and also shall determine: (a) The presence of sexually transmitted diseases or blood-borne diseases; and, depending on risk factors, women prisoners may also be offered testing for HIV, with pre- and post-test counselling; (b) Mental health-care needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder and risk of suicide and self-harm; (c) The reproductive health history of the woman prisoner, including current or recent pregnancies, childbirth and any related reproductive health issues; (d) The existence of drug dependency; (e) Sexual abuse and other forms of violence that may have been suffered prior to admission. The Bangkok Rules also provide that ‘if the existence of sexual abuse or other forms of violence before or during detention is diagnosed, the woman prisoner shall be informed of her right to seek recourse from judicial authorities’262. The Rules also reiterate the right to medical confidentiality ‘including specifically the right not to share information and not to undergo screening in relation to their reproductive health history’.263 The Essex Group noted that HIV testing may be offered to prisoners with ‘pre- and post-test counselling’, however, such testing cannot be mandatory or required.264 CAT SMR revision observations, para.17; CAT, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture CAT/C/DEU/CO/5 12 December 2011, para 29; CAT, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture CAT/C/ETH/CO/1 20 January 2011, para 21; CAT, Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture CAT/C/SVK/CO/2 17 December 2009, para 11; UN General Assembly, Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment A/69/387 23 September 2014, paras 32-37 260  Bangkok Rules, 6(a) - Medical Screening on entry -,7 - Procedures in case of sexual abuse or violence detected upon screening on entry, 8 - right to refuse screening related to reproductive health history, and 9 - right of accompanying children to undergo entry screening. Bangkok rule 9 should be linked to Nelson Mandela Rule 29.1 (b). 261  Rule 7. 262  Rule 8. 263  Bangkok Rules 6(a). 264  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 71