Chapter 8 • International Legal Standards for the Protection of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty State Responsibility for Prisoners on Hunger Strike The Case of R., S., A. and C. v. Portugal (cont.d) The deadlock was resolved on the twenty-sixth day of applicant R.’s hunger strike, “when the prison authorities allowed the applicants to be visited by a team consisting of a doctor appointed by the Medical Council, the prison doctor and a doctor of their choice”. The team asked that the applicants be “hospitalised as a matter of urgency”, which was done a few days later.100 The Commission’s reasoning in this case deserves to be quoted in full: “18. As the Commission has already emphasised, the Convention requires that the prison authorities, with due regard to the ordinary and reasonable requirements of imprisonment, exercise their custodial authority to safeguard the health and well-being of all prisoners, including those engaged in protest, in so far as that may be possible in the circumstances. ... In situations of serious deadlock, the public authorities must not entrench themselves in an inflexible approach aimed more at punishing offenders against prison discipline than at exploring ways of resolving the deadlock... . 19. In the instant case, regrettable as it may be that the applicants received no medical care for a long period during their hunger strike, the fact remains that they were themselves to a large extent responsible for this situation. In respecting the applicants’ refusal to be examined by certain doctors, whose competence could not be disputed, the Government acted in a manner about which the applicants cannot complain. The Commission is unable to conclude from the specific circumstances of these cases that the Portuguese authorities showed inflexibility and allowed the applicants’ situation to deteriorate to the extent that they were victims of inhuman treatment or torture violating article 3 of the Convention.”101 The reasoning in the Portuguese case was based on the McFeeley case, which arose in the dramatic context of Northern Ireland. The applicants in this case wanted to be recognized as political prisoners and therefore, inter alia, refused to wear prison clothes and work in prison. In return, they were given multiple punishments including periods of cellular isolation. In that particular case the Commission stated that it “... must express its concern at the inflexible approach of the State authorities which has been concerned more to punish offenders against prison discipline than to explore ways of resolving such a serious deadlock. Furthermore, the Commission is of the view that, for humanitarian reasons, efforts should have been made by the authorities to ensure that the applicants could avail of certain facilities such as taking regular exercise 100 Ibid., p. 208, para. 17. 101 Ibid., paras. 18-19; emphasis added. 346 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers