• Finally, safeguards must be in place. These include access to legal counsel
and to monitoring bodies, rights of appeal, and a robust, confidential and
accessible system for making complaints.
Similar principles apply to the use of restraints, namely that their use must be
lawful, necessary and proportionate. Restraint must only be applied in cases
of emergency, when all other options have been tried and failed. The least
restrictive form of restraint possible must be used and then for the shortest time
possible necessary to achieve the specific aim which its use seeks to achieve.
Instruments of restraint must never be used as punishment, and the manner
in which restraint is applied must not be degrading or painful. Some forms of
restraint, including chains, irons and or other instruments of restraint which are
inherently degrading or painful (Mandela Rule 47(1)) are prohibited altogether.
Using these principles to assess whether the establishments visited met
international standards on conditions of confinement and treatment of
individuals secluded in them, the following issues were examined for this review:
• What is the legal basis for using solitary confinement and restraint in each of
the settings examined? (see Appendix 3)
• How many people spent time in solitary confinement, and for how long?
• When and why was solitary confinement used in practice? Was it used only as
a last resort?
• What were the material conditions, daily regime and in-cell provisions in
solitary confinement cells? Were minimum human rights standards met?
• Were individuals belonging to vulnerable groups, as defined in the Mandela
Rules, found in solitary confinement units?
• How often were placements reviewed and by whom? Were reviews
substantive?
• How often was restraint used? Was it used only as a last resort?
• Was a robust system enabling confidential complaints in place?
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