human security in an uufinished state - Helsinki Committee for ...

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
rooms and appliances. Also, a bath more than once a week is considered a
privilege in some institutions.
In all the institutions visited except KPZ Ćuprija untried and
sentenced prisoners wear their own shoes and clothes, but prisoners who work
are issued work clothes. As pointed out in the previous report, the inmates
must provide their own means of maintaining personal hygiene (soap,
shampoo, washing powder). Inmates must also wash their own clothes and
these are often seen hung about the rooms because of lack of proper drying
facilities.
b) The kitchen, mess-hall and food
Though the facilities and conditions in which food is stored, prepared
and served vary from one institution to another, the level of hygiene is
generally low to medium. This is due mostly to the age of the buildings, the
inadequate location of kitchens (mostly in basements) and years of neglect.
In the majority of institutions food is prepared by professional cooks
assisted by inmates. In all the institutions visited the kitchen staff undergo
regular sanitary checks and the assistants are accommodated separately.
The quality of food varies from one institution to another but is
generally bad. As pointed out in our previous report, the quality of food is
better in institutions in Vojvodina.
The food is unappetizing, there is little or no milk and milk products,
and no fruit whatever (other than occasionally during season).
In some institutions we noticed the impermissible practice of serving
the same dish for lunch and dinner.
Generally, a special diet is available for individual inmates subject to
the doctor’s prescription, but this tends to be restricted to the elimination of fat,
salt and spices during cooking.
In some institutions care is taken of the special food requirements of
inmates of Islamic faith, whereas in others they are left to their own devices if
they cannot eat the food prepared for the rest.
There are prison canteens in three institutions (KPZ Šabac, KPZ
Padinska Skela KPZ and VPD Kruševac). In others, inmates make up their
orders and the goods are bought once or twice a week in the local shops.
c)The medical care of prisoners
The organization of the health care services in prisons is a very
important and delicate segment of prison life. In our system of the enforcement
of criminal sanctions the existing health care model is its weakest point, being
both inadequate and incompatible with minimum European standards.
Human Security in an Unfinished State
We shall therefore first discuss the necessary parameters indicating
the organizational arrangements the fulfilment of which constitutes the bare
essentials for the functioning of a health care service.
In all the institutions we visited there is a minimum of medical care
mostly provided by part-time doctors, KPZ Padinska Skela and VDP Kruševac
alone having full-time medical practitioners. Having had no training in specific
features of prison pathology, the part-time doctors provide services according
to their individual ability and interest in their work.
Four of the nine district prisons and three of the four penalcorrectional
institutions visited had a paramedic (44 per cent and 75 per cent
respectively); in KPZ Sombor this vacancy is temporary and we hope that very
soon there will be a full complement of paramedics as far as the penalcorrectional
institutions are concerned. In this connection, we noted that the
institutions employing paramedics are better rated in other respects too
because their paramedics run the dispensaries, dispense drugs, and open
inmates’ medical record cards. The paramedics are also in charge of most drug
therapy administration within the institution; such arrangements not only
make for considerable savings but also simplify organization because fewer
inmates have to be taken to the local health or hospital centre.
Some institutions (e.g. OZ Kruševac, OZ Subotica, KPZ Ćuprija and
KPZ Padinska Skela) employ paramedics also to keep accurate records of the
health services rendered; this practice is praiseworthy and should further be
improved by keeping track of any injuries and marks of violence.
Unfortunately none of the institutions visited keeps such records although
they would be invaluable in assessing the state of affairs in an institution and,
especially, in preventing abuse and torture by both inmates and prison guards.
This is why this matter requires immediate attention. Also, such records
should be regularly presented, say once a month, at team meetings and/or
submitted to the prison administration.
An out-patient clinic as a separate room exists in three out of nine
district prisons and in all the penal-correctional institutions, making for better
medical services and for safer keeping of drugs in more adequate conditions.
Since the out-patient clinics in all these institutions are equipped with the bare
necessities, even modest investments could go a long way towards improving
the quality of their services.
Regrettably, privacy of examination out of the hearing and sight of
other inmates and prison staff is not ensured even in out-patient clinics
operating in separate rooms: the presence of guards during examinations was
noticed in most institutions visited and we believe that this is so in those which
gave us assurances to the contrary. Confidentiality of medical examination is
vital for the development of inmates’ trust in the medical staff; if inmates trust
their doctors they will be more likely to complain of any violent behaviour and
related injuries, in which case the doctor will have to note the injuries and
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