IMPLICATIONS In many prisons large groups of people have to live close together for long periods of time. This is particularly true of prisons where there is dormitory accommodation holding a large number of prisoners. It is essential for health as well as personal dignity that prisoners should be given every opportunity to attend to their most basic bodily functions with a proper degree of privacy and also that special attention should be paid to the requirements of personal hygiene. It is important for the health of the staff who work in a prison, as well as for prisoners, that there should be proper arrangements for hygiene and cleanliness. PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS ■ Staff should ensure that all available lavatory and washing facilities are in working order and should arrange for groups of prisoners to keep them clean. ■ Dormitories may have insufficient sanitary and hygiene facilities for the numbers held in them. In such circumstances it may be possible to allow prisoners to use alternative facilities outside the dormitories. ■ All prisoners should be given soap, clean towels and toilet facilities. Female prisoners should have ready access to sanitary supplies for menstruation. Male prisoners should have personal shaving materials. ■ The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment takes the view that sanitary arrangements should permit inmates to comply with the needs of nature when necessary in clean and decent conditions. Either a toilet facility should be located in cellular accommodation (preferably in a sanitary annex) or there should be means for prisoners who need to use a lavatory to be released from their cells without undue delay at all times, including at night. ■ Prisoners carrying out work which makes them dirty and those preparing or serving food should be given the opportunity to wash more regularly. ■ Care should be taken that the requirements of hygiene are not used as a cloak for imposing discipline. For example, rule 16 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners should not be used as an excuse to shave the heads of prisoners. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Sometimes staff are reluctant to issue prisoners with personal razors for shaving in case they harm themselves or use the blades as weapons. What alternative arrangements can be made to meet hygiene requirements? Discuss what consideration needs to be given to the requirements in some religions about washing and cutting hair such as facial hair. CASE STUDIES 1. There are no washing facilities in individual cells. A group of prisoners approach you to say that their religion requires them to wash at specific times each day. What arrangements can be made for them? 2. Consider how local voluntary groups or non-governmental organizations might be involved in helping to improve hygiene provision in a prison where facilities are very poor. 77