ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES a) Precise information enabling determination of his or her unique identity, respecting his or her self-perceived gender; b) The reasons for his or her commitment and the responsible authority, in addition to the date, time and place of arrest; c) The day and hour of his or her admission and release as well as of any transfer; d) Any visible injuries and complaints about prior ill-treatment; e) An inventory of his or her personal property; f) The names of his or her family members, including, where applicable, his or her children, the children’s ages, location and custody or guardianship status; g) Emergency contact details and information on the prisoner’s next of kin. The Essex group pointed out that much of this information can be captured during the reception process92 on entry to a prison, but noted the need to update some of the information listed in the course of the prison term. Within its country visits, the SPT has repeatedly documented deficiencies in the maintenance of registers, noting for example if and when registers were not completed or signed regularly, and ‘useful records, such as records of deaths, transfers to hospital or other prisons, disciplinary punishments, visits by court officials’ were not available.93 The Essex group discussed Rule 7(a), describing personal data to be recorded by prison administration as ‘precise information enabling determination of his or her unique identity, respecting his or her self-perceived gender’. The experts noted that the provision was included to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and/or intersex (LGBTI) prisoners, in light of Rule 2 which prohibits discrimination, including based on ‘other status’ (i.e. gender identity and sexual orientation) and which requires that prison administrations take individual needs into account. The allocation of LGBTI prisoners and subsequently their placement within a facility need to be determined with great caution in light of the documented particular vulnerability and risk of human rights violations and abuses. LGBTI prisoners should be consulted on their allocation.94 The SPT, in its eighth Annual Report, has noted concern that ‘the absence of appropriate means of identification, registration and detention leads in some cases to transgender women being placed in male-only prisons, where they are exposed to a high risk of rape, often with the complicity of prison personnel’.95 The SPT has also noted that ‘obtaining precise individual information as to gender identity is vital to determining proper treatment, including hormone and other treatment associated with gender transition. In the absence of mechanisms to obtain such information, grave health consequences ensue’.96 UNOPS’ Technical Guidance for Prison Planning, based on the Nelson Mandela Rules, offers guidance on how to design a reception area that supports effective registration. 92  See, for example, SPT Report on visit to Mali, CAT/OP/MLI/1, para. 76. 93  See PRI and APT, LGBTI persons deprived of their liberty: a framework for preventive monitoring, 2015, London (LGBTI persons deprived of their liberty); UN General Assembly, 56th Session, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 3 July 2001, A/56/156, para. 23. 94  UN Committee Against Torture, 54th Session, Eighth annual report of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 26 March 2015, CAT/ C/54/2, para. 68. 95  UN Committee Against Torture, 57th Session, Ninth annual report of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 22 March 2016, CAT/OP/C/57/4, para. 65. 96  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 31