Chapter 8 • International Legal Standards for the Protection of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty
issues as the quality of the food, the hygiene and cleanliness of the institution and
prisoners, the sanitation, clothing and bedding etc. (Rule 26). Furthermore,
Principle 24 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any
Form of Detention or Imprisonment provides that “a proper medical examination
shall be offered to a detained or imprisoned person as promptly as possible after his
admission to the place of detention or imprisonment, and thereafter medical care
and treatment shall be provided whenever necessary. This care and treatment shall
be provided free of charge.”
The international monitoring organs have examined numerous cases
involving conditions of detention and a few of these cases set out below will illustrate
the views of these organs on such issues as lack of food, deficient hygiene and alleged
lack of medical care.
*****
In the case of Freemantle, the following conditions of the author’s detention
amounted to a violation of article 10(1) of the International Covenant: the author was
confined to a 2-metre-square cell for 22 hours each day, and remained isolated from
other men for most of the day; he spent most of his waking hours in enforced darkness,
had little to keep him occupied, and was not permitted to work or to undertake
education.83
In the case of Robinson, the Committee concluded that the following
conditions of the author’s imprisonment amounted to a violation of article 10(1) of the
International Covenant: there was a complete lack of mattresses, other bedding and
furniture in the cells, a desperate shortage of soap, toothpaste and toilet paper, the
quality of food and drink was very poor, there was no integral sanitation in the cells and
there were open sewers and piles of refuse, no doctor was available and the author was
“confined to his cell for 22 hours every day in enforced darkness, isolated from other
men, without anything to keep him occupied”.84
Among many other cases, article 10(1) of the International Covenant was also
violated in the case of Elahie, where the author complained that he only had “a piece of
sponge and old newspapers” to sleep on, that he was given “food not fit for human
consumption” and then “treated with brutality by the warders whenever complaints
were made”.85
Article 10(1) of the Covenant was further violated in the case of Michael and
Brian Hill, who were not given any food during the first five days of police detention in
Spain,86 while article 7 was violated in the case of Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, who was
subjected to “inhuman treatment” after having been “deprived of food and drink for
83 Communication No. 625/1995, M. Freemantle v. Jamaica (Views adopted on 24 March 2000), in UN doc. GAOR, A/55/40
(vol. II), p. 19, para. 7.3.
84 Communication No. 731/1996, M. Robinson v. Jamaica (Views adopted on 29 March 2000), in UN doc. GAOR, A/55/40
(vol. II), p. 128, paras. 10.1-10.2.
85 Communication No. 533/1993, H. Elahie v. Trinidad and Tobago (Views adopted on 28 July 1997), in UN doc. GAOR, A/52/40
(vol. II), p. 37, para. 8.3.
86 Communication No. 526/1993, M. and B. Hill v. Spain (Views adopted on 2 April 1997), in UN doc. GAOR, A/52/40 (vol. II),
pp. 17-18, para. 13.
Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers
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