A/HRC/16/52/Add.5 2. Safeguards against torture and ill-treatment during arrest and detention 14. Any person arrested by the police must be taken without delay to a police station,2 where the officer in charge has to register the person in a permanent register of arrests (unless detention is not deemed necessary), inform the detainee of the reasons for the arrest, details of the charges and the rights to immediately communicate with a member of their family or personal friends in private, and to give instructions to a lawyer of their choice, including the public solicitor if entitled to legal aid.3 Refusal or failure to keep records relating to a person in confinement is a misdemeanour, punishable by up to three years of imprisonment.4 15. According to the Constitution, any person arrested or detained on the basis of reasonable suspicion of having committed or being about to commit an offence is should be brought before a court or a judicial officer without delay, and should not be held further except by order of a court or a judicial officer (sect. 42 (3)). Any wilful delay in taking an arrested person to the judicial authorities constitutes a misdemeanour.5 16. With regard to the protection of the physical and psychological integrity of persons held in prisons, the Correctional Service Act of 1995 regulates the treatment and conditions of detention, including the use of firearms in detention (sect. 111), the use of physical restraints against detainees (sects. 55, 57 and 112), and the duty of law enforcement officials to ensure the full protection of the health of persons in their custody, including aspects of accommodation (sect. 122), hygiene (sects. 122 and 125)6, food and water (sect. 123),7 exercise (sect. 126)8 and medical services (sects. 88, 89, 141 and 142).9 17. Regarding medical examinations as a safeguard against ill-treatment, the Correctional Service Act stipulates that a medical officer should examine a detainee “as soon as possible”, “wherever practicable” after a detainee has been admitted, or before the detainee is charged or removed from a corrective institution (sect. 88). According to the Correctional Service Regulation, examinations by the medical officer should be carried out with a view to detect illnesses that would require segregation from the overall prison, hamper rehabilitation or influence the detainee’s capacity to work (sect. 112). As such, medical examinations are not foreseen to be carried out in order to detect traces of abuse or ill-treatment, undermining any safeguarding effect. Similarly, the Arrest Act only provides for medical examinations of suspects held in police custody if requested by a commissioned officer or the officer in charge, and if there are reasonable grounds to believe that a medical examination would provide evidence relating to the offence of which the detainee is a suspect (sect. 22). Examinations require the written consent of the detainee or a court order, and may only be carried out through the use of force which is “reasonable in the circumstances” (sect. 22 (6)). As with medical examinations in correctional facilities, there is no provision in the legislation that foresees medical examinations as a safeguard against ill-treatment. 18. The Correctional Service Act stipulates that female and male detainees should be held so far as possible in separate correctional institutions. In cases where such separation is not possible, female and male detainees are to be held in entirely separate parts of the 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 Arrest Act, sect. 17(a). Arrest Act, sect. 18, and Constitution, sect. 42(2). Criminal Code Act, sect. 357. Criminal Code Act, sect. 133. See also Correctional Service Regulation 1995, sect. 96. See also ibid., sects. 70 - 73, 75-78, 104 and 105. See also ibid., sects. 79 and 105. See also ibid., sects. 105, 112 and 113.