ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES The experts discussed the significance of the wording ‘at all times’ in Rule 1 and noted that it means 24 hours (day and night), from admission to prison through to release, including during any transfer of prisoners. For prison staff, the principle applies during the entire time of their duties. The experts emphasised that the protection of prisoners from inter-prisoner violence is a key component of ensuring safety in prison and a human rights obligation. As a report of the SecretaryGeneral has noted, acquiescence in inter-prisoner violence is not simply a breach of professional responsibilities but amounts to consent or acquiescence in torture or other ill-treatment’.384 The duty to prevent inter-prisoner violence has also been recognised as a component inherent in the safety of prisoners in the Bangkok Rules385 and the European Prison Rules.386 Inter-prisoner violence involves a wide range of phenomena from subtle forms of harassment to unconcealed intimidation and serious physical attacks.387 In a prison environment where verbal abuse, harassment on racist or tribal grounds, theft, or exploitation are widespread, prisoners will be tempted to use force to defend their interests. The protection of prisoners from all forms of victimisation is therefore in the vital interest of prison staff. It was stressed that safety and security is jeopardised in overcrowded prisons, alongside its negative impact on the conditions of detention overall. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has described the correlation, stating that ‘the general context and the causes that give rise to the acts of violence are fundamentally the same: a general situation of inhumane conditions of detention characterized mainly by considerable overcrowding’.388 A report of the UN Secretary General concluded that ‘overcrowded cells in prisons foster the development of an offender subculture, which is difficult for prison staff to control’.389 à S ee Chapter 4, Healthcare – suicide prevention and prevention of self-harm à S ee Chapter 3, Contact with the outside world – transfers/transport Measures to ensure safety and security The Essex group noted that prison security is usually associated with physical means, particularly walls, bars, watch towers and alarm systems, but in fact encompasses a whole range of measures, including: •  architectural aspects UN General Assembly, 68th Session, Human rights in the administration of justice: analysis of the international legal and institutional framework for the protection of all persons deprived of their liberty: Report of the Secretary-General, 5 August 2013, A/68/261, para 49 (Human rights in the administration of justice). Separately, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture recalls that inter-prisoner violence may amount to torture or other ill-treatment if the State fails to act with due diligence to prevent it (in UN Human Rights Council, 13th Session, Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak: Mission to Kazakhstan, 16 December 2009, A/HRC/13/39/Add.3, para. 28). See also UN General Assembly, 68th Session, Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Note by the Secretary-General, 9 August 2013, A/68/295, para. 48 (Special Rapporteur on Torture report 2013). 384  United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), 2011, Preliminary observations para.9. 385  European Prison Rules, 2006, Rule 52(2): ‘Procedures shall be in place to ensure the safety of prisoners, prison staff and all visitors and to reduce to a minimum the risk of violence and other events that might threaten safety’. 386  European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 11th General Report on the CPT’s activities covering the period 1 January to 31 December 2000, 3 September 2001, CPT/ Inf (2001) 16, para. 27 (CPT 11th General Report). 387  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report on the Human Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas, 31 December 2011, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc 64, paras.103-106. 388  Human rights in the administration of justice, para.49. 389  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 100