(d) Training prison personnel, guards and managers, and paying them adequate salaries; (e) Ensuring respect for the principle of equal treatment, whereby the prison regime must be the same for all prisoners, without differences in treatment or discrimination against individuals for financial or any other reasons; (f) Ensuring that the prison authorities are responsible for the assignment of cells and beds, so that all inmates have a decent place to sleep, sufficient food, recreation, sanitary facilities and other amenities that safeguard the right to decent treatment, without having to pay for them. Prison authorities should assume responsibility for guaranteeing this right; (g) Adopting measures to promote access by civil society and representatives of the media as a means of ensuring public oversight; (h) Banning staff from carrying money within the facility, and overseeing the enforcement of the ban; and (i) Recording in the inmates’ personal files the wings to which they are assigned and the reasons for that assignment. Health 213.The medical examination carried out on admission to prison is extremely important. In the first place, it helps to prevent torture and ill-treatment in the cases of persons arriving from police stations, by making it possible to establish whether there are any signs of previous ill-treatment and to assess when it may have occurred. The examination also provides an opportunity to assess the health and the medical needs of the prisoners, to carry out voluntary tests and to offer counselling on sexually transmitted diseases, along with information on preventing these and other infectious diseases, and on drug addiction. On the basis of its conversations with prisoners and prison medical staff, the Subcommittee finds that in the prisons it visited routine medical checkups are not conducted at the time of admission. 214. The Subcommittee recommends that medical practitioners examine all inmates on admission to prison. The examination must be carried out in accordance with a standard questionnaire which, in addition to general health questions, should include an account of any recent acts of violence against them. The medical practitioner should also conduct a complete medical check-up, including a full body examination. If a patient shows signs of having been subjected to acts of violence, the doctor must assess whether their account is consistent with the results of the medical examination. Any doctor who has reason to believe that torture or ill-treatment has taken place must inform the competent authorities. 215.The prison staff told the Subcommittee that access to the prison medical clinic is free for all inmates who are sick or ailing. However, a number of inmates in the Marco Aurelio Soto Prison said that only 30 inmates could consult a doctor each week, and complained of the poor quality of the care received. In San Pedro Sula Prison, the Subcommittee noted with concern that the prison doctor had been on leave for more than a month, without a replacement. In addition, he works only 15 hours a week, which is insufficient given the size of the prison population. Four nursing staff provide care under the supervision of the doctor, who keeps a patient dossier to which the nurses have no access. Yet, since the nurses themselves are inmates, the principle of confidentiality is not always respected, and this makes it difficult for them to maintain a neutral and professional attitude. Moreover, although in principle the nurses care only for non-serious cases, the fact that the doctor works only three hours a day obliges them on occasion to cope with highly complex health situations. 216.In the case of grave illnesses or injuries calling for specialized treatment, the doctor or, in his absence, the nurses, request an authorization from the warden to transfer the inmate to a public hospital. According to information received by the Subcommittee, this system does not always work. One inmate in San Pedro Sula Prison stated that he had been awaiting surgery for several months. One enforcement judge declared that the hospitals sometimes showed a discriminatory attitude toward prisoners referred to them, and that the neuropsychiatric hospital had refused treatment to some of them. 217.The Subcommittee determined that the supply of medicines is insufficient in both prisons and that prisoners often have to pay for their medicines, which are brought in from a pharmacy outside the facility. 218. The Subcommittee recommends the adoption of a systematic and comprehensive medical record system. It emphasizes that the right of prisoners to consult a doctor at any time free of charge must be respected, and recommends that steps be taken to give effect to this right. Prisoners should be able to consult medical practitioners in confidence without having their requests blocked or screened by guards or other inmates. 219. The Subcommittee further recommends that the authorities increase the length of the doctor’s working day and establish a system of alternates that will guarantee the presence of a doctor every day of the week throughout the year. It also recommends training for nurses, respect for medical confidentiality and the employment of outside nurses. 220. The Subcommittee invites the authorities to establish a system for the stocking of medicines and recommends that the medicine supply should be expanded so as to meet prescription requirements. 221.There is no information on the number of prisoners with HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis in the prisons that were visited. A number of inmates were apparently suffering from HIV/AIDS but preferred not to speak about it for fear of rejection and discrimination. One 20-year-old youth in the wing designated for members of the Salvatrucha gang was in an advanced state of illness and said he had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis and anaemia, but had been treated only for tuberculosis and anaemia. He also said that he had been in bed since July 2009, and was taken to the hospital every two weeks for a consultation and blood tests. 222. The Subcommittee recommends that all prisoners should have the opportunity to be X-rayed for tuberculosis using mobile X-ray units, and that treatment should commence for those who test positive. Prisoners sharing a cell with a