C HAPTER 4. A DMISSION AND RELEASE OBJECTIVE The objective of this chapter is to show that the requirement to treat prisoners and other people deprived of their liberty in a humane and dignified manner begins at the moment of admission to custody and continues until the moment of release. ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES Persons deprived of their liberty should be held in places which are officially recognized as places of custody. A detailed register shall be kept of every person deprived of liberty. All prisoners shall be provided promptly with written information about the regulations which apply to their treatment and about their rights and obligations. The families, legal representatives and, if appropriate, diplomatic missions, of prisoners are to receive full information about the fact of their detention and where they are held. All prisoners shall be offered a proper medical examination and treatment as soon as possible after admission. BASIS IN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Principle 6 of the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions states that: Governments shall ensure that persons deprived of their liberty are held in officially recognized places of custody, and that accurate information on their custody and whereabouts, including transfers, is made promptly available to their relatives and lawyer or other persons of confidence. Article 10, paragraph 3, of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance requires that in any place where a person is deprived of liberty an up-to-date register shall be kept. This requirement is confirmed in rule 7 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners: (1) In every place where persons are imprisoned there shall be kept a bound registration book with numbered pages in which shall be entered in respect of each prisoner received: (a) Information concerning his identity; (b) The reasons for his commitment and the authority therefor; (c) The day and hour of his admission and release. (2) No person shall be received in an institution without a valid commitment order of which the details shall have been previously entered in the register. 41