Observations of the NPM on the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment It would be necessary to carry out a report on certain matters related to the recordings, such as the conditions in which they are activated, the time for which they should be kept, the security protocols to ensure their safety and the manner in which to inform the persons deprived of liberty of the making of these recordings and the authority before which they may exercise the rights established by personal data protection laws. The obligation to extract and keep any pictures showing any incident that occurs with a person deprived of liberty, without need for a formal request to such effect, should included in all action protocols on the matter. In addition, the inspection services of the responsible authority should carry out, in general and as a prevention measure, regular audits of the recordings, not necessarily related to the clarification of specific incidents. 64. Since solitary confinement is a system of special restriction of rights of the person deprived of liberty which should always be applied restrictively, with special compensating safeguards, it would be advisable to analyse this institution in an overall manner to assess its practical efficiency and adopt the most indicated legislative policy decisions. The law should expressly prohibit the application of this system to minors and permit the detainees to be able to hold confidential interviews with the lawyer assigned to them ex officio. In addition, it would be advisable for the NPM to be able to designate a second medical practitioner, of the public health system, to examine the detainees independently for the duration of their solitary confinement. The immediate participation of the court authority, particularly when establishing and supervising the extension of the solitary confinement should be increased and the video-recording, with audio, should be required on an ongoing basis for the duration of the solitary confinement to capture all places in which the detainees remain or are in transit, including vehicles, with the sole exception of toilets. Lastly, it would be necessary to generalise the most complete forensic-medical examination protocols and regulate the reporting of the fact and the place of detention to the direct family relatives of the detainee. 65. Although progress is observed in the application of unified criteria to prepare injury reports, it must be remembered that, in those cases in which the person deprived of liberty attributes the injury to aggression, the medical reports must be completed in detail, particularly as regards the description of the injuries since this is the only manner in which the compatibility of the cause with the denounced facts may be established. In addition, photographs of the injuries must be included, as established by the Manual for efficient investigation and documentary record of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or penalties, known as the Istanbul Protocol, and the aforementioned report on Injury reports on people deprived of their liberty of the Ombudsman’s Office of May 2014. 41

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