CHAPTER 11. SPECIALIST HEALTH CARE OBJECTIVE The objective of this chapter is to emphasize that prisoners should have access to a full range of health-care facilities and that there should be a strong link between healthcare services in prisons and those in the community or nation. ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES Every prison should have proper health facilities and medical staff to provide for a range of health needs, including dental and psychiatric care. Sick prisoners who cannot be treated in the prison, such as prisoners with mental illness, should be transferred to a civil hospital or specialist prison hospital. All prisoners shall have access to a qualified dental practitioner. Services for psychiatric diagnosis and, if appropriate, treatment shall be available at every prison. Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Prisoners who are insane shall not be detained in prisons, but transferred as soon as possible to mental institutions. Prisoners suffering from other mental diseases shall be treated in specialized institutions under medical management, or treated and supervised by prison medical services as appropriate. BASIS IN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners provide: 22. (1) At every institution there shall be available the services of at least one qualified medical officer who should have some knowledge of psychiatry. The medical services should be organized in close relationship to the general health administration of the community or nation. They shall include a psychiatric service for the diagnosis and, in proper cases, the treatment of states of mental abnormality. (2) Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Where hospital facilities are provided in an institution, their equipment, furnishings and pharmaceutical supplies shall be proper for the medical care and treatment of sick prisoners, and there shall be a staff of suitable trained officers. (3) The services of a qualified dental officer shall be available to every prisoner. 69