Full page photo print - Harvard Law School Project on Disability

international standards for persons in prison or detention
basic principles for the treatment of prisoners
• Establishes prisoners’ entitlement to a quality of health care comparable to that
available in the outside community.
body of principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention or
imprisonment
• Establishes the obligation of authorities to ensure prisoners are given medical screening
upon admission and provided appropriate medical care and treatment as necessary
and free of charge.
standard minimum rules
• Provide that appropriate medical and mental health services are integral to a properly
run prison and to the goal of rehabilitation: “The medical services…shall seek to
detect and shall treat any…mental illnesses or defects which may hamper a prisoner’s
rehabilitation. All necessary…psychiatric services shall be provided to that end.”
• Recognize the need to vary the housing, supervision, and care of offenders with mental
disorders according to the degree of their disability. Prison mental health staff should
provide for the psychiatric treatment of all other prisoners who need it.
• Recognize that prisons must have sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified
competent health care staff to meet their human rights obligations. To the extent
possible, prison staff should also include specialists in addition to psychiatrists,
including psychologists, and social workers. Standards of care should not be lowered
because those needing medical treatment are prisoners. “Health personnel, particularly
physicians, charged with the medical care of prisoners and detainees have a duty
to provide them with protection of their physical and mental health and treatment
of disease of the same quality and standards as is afforded to those who are not
imprisoned or detained.”
• Stipulate that clinical medical decisions should be governed by medical criteria.
International principles of medical ethics require prison medical staff to provide “the
best possible health care for those who are incarcerated,” and to make decisions
regarding their care and treatment based on the prisoners’ health needs, which should
take priority over any non-medical matters.
• Recommend that proper psychiatric treatment in prison as in the community should
be based on a treatment plan drawn up for each patient. The plan should consist
of more than just medication. It should involve a wide range of rehabilitative and
therapeutic activities, including access to occupational therapy, group therapy,
individual psychotherapy, art, drama, music and sports;
• Recognize that patients should have regular access to suitably-equipped recreation
rooms and have the possibility to take outdoor exercise on a daily basis; it is also
desirable for them to be offered education and suitable work. 19
19 “Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness.” 2003. Human Rights Watch.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1003
94 human rights. yes! aCtiOn and adVOCaCy On the rights Of persOns with disabilities