• the disciplinary regime; • the complaints system; and • the behaviour of prison personnel. Solitary confinement Solitary confinement can cross the threshold of inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment. However, where there is no total sensory deprivation and if the state has a compelling reason to detain somebody under these circumstances, for example they have been convicted of offences of terrorism and they are considered to be dangerously charismatic, the Court has ruled that solitary confinement, for even up to eight years, may not violate the absolute prohibition.349 Nonetheless, indefinite solitary confinement may exceed the standards required for the protection from torture and other ill-treatment. Furthermore, it is essential that the prisoner should be able to have an independent judicial authority review the merits of, and reasons for, a prolonged measure of solitary confinement. According to the Court, rigorous examination is called for to determine whether prolonged detention in solitary confinement is justified, including: • whether the measures taken were necessary and proportionate compared to the available alternatives; • what safeguards were afforded the applicant; and • what measures were taken by the authorities to ensure that the applicant’s physical and mental condition was compatible with his continued solitary confinement. Measures such as solitary confinement should be resorted to only exceptionally and after every precaution has been taken. In order to avoid any risk of arbitrariness, substantive reasons must be given when a protracted period of solitary confinement is extended. Those reasons should establish that the authorities have carried out a reassessment that takes into account any changes in the prisoner’s circumstances, situation or behaviour. The reasons will need to be increasingly detailed and compelling the more time goes by. Secret or incommunicado detention Incommunicado or secret detention has been found to violate Article 7 ICCPR.350 Torture is most frequently practised when a person is held without access to a lawyer, his or her family and relatives, or groups from civil society (incommunicado detention). There is a direct link between secret or incommunicado detention and enforced disappearances.351 In acknowledgement of this, the Commission on Human Rights has stressed that “prolonged incommunicado detention may facilitate the perpetration of torture and can in itself constitute a form 349 Op. cit., note 134, ECtHR, Ramirez Sanchez v. France, Application no. 59450/00, 4 July 2006, paras. 125-150; op. cit., note 300, ECtHR, Öcalan v. Turkey, paras. 190-196. 350 Op. cit., note 336, HRC, General Comment No. 20, para. 11. See also HRC, Campos v. Peru, Communication no. 577/1994, doc. CCPR/C/61/D/577/1994, 9 January 1998, para. 8.4-8.5; and HRC, Shaw v. Jamaica, Communication no. 704/1996, doc. CCPR/C/62/D/704/1996, 4 June 1998, para. 7.1. 351 See pp. 103-105 above. 126 Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights