• The psychological and behavioural reactions of prisoners or those detained in other settings are likely to differ from those of people who observe physical distancing in the community; consideration should therefore be given to the increased need for emotional and psychological support, for transparent awareness-raising and information-sharing on the disease, and for assurances that continued contact with family and relatives will be upheld. • Adequate measures should be in place to prevent stigmatization or marginalization of individuals or groups who are considered to be potential carriers of viruses. • Any decision to place people in prisons and other places of detention in conditions of medical isolation should always be based on medical necessity as a result of a clinical decision and subject to authorization by law or by the regulation of the competent administrative authority. • People subjected to isolation for reasons of public health protection, in the context of prisons and other places of detention, should be informed of the reason for being placed in isolation, and given the possibility to have a third party notified. • Adequate measures should be in place to protect persons in isolation from any form of ill treatment and to facilitate human contact as appropriate and possible in the given circumstances (e.g. by audiovisual means of communication). • The COVID-19 outbreak must not be used as a justification for undermining adherence to all fundamental safeguards incorporated in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) including, but not limited to, the requirement that restrictions must never amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the prohibition of prolonged solitary confinement (i.e. in excess of 15 consecutive days); the requirement that clinical decisions may only be taken by health-care professionals and must not be ignored or overruled by non-medical prison staff; and that while the means of family contact may be restricted in exceptional circumstances for a limited time period, it must never be prohibited altogether.8 • The COVID-19 outbreak must not be used as a justification for objecting to external inspection of prisons and other places of detention by independent international or national bodies whose mandate is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; such bodies include national preventive mechanisms under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture,9 the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,10 and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.11 • Even in the circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak, bodies of inspection in the above sense should have access to all people deprived of their liberty in prisons and other places of detention, including to persons in isolation, in accordance with the provisions of the respective body’s mandate. 8 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/70/175, adopted 17 December 2015 (https://undocs.org/A/RES/70/175). 9 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/57/199, adopted 18 December 2002 (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCAT.aspx). 10 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. The SPT in Brief (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/Brief.aspx). 11 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [website]. Strasbourg: Council of Europe (https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt). 5