15. PTA Prisoners Prisoners charged with offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act were identified as a special category of prisoners because the PTA curtails certain rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution and by international human rights norms. PTA prisoners are therefore at risk of suffering violations of their right to enjoy due process safeguards, which directly impacted the prolonged period of time they spent in remand. In many ways, the detention status of PTA prisoners directly causes an adverse impact on their treatment and conditions. In prison, due to the act under which they are charged, PTA prisoners reported suffering discrimination and feel they are at a continued risk of harassment or abuse by fellow prisoners, and even prison officers. Due to such treatment, all PTA prisoners stated they prefer to be housed with other PTA prisoners rather than non-PTA prisoners. Their “special” status, i.e. being categorized as prisoners who require special security, restricts their access to some entitlements such as access to medical care, because due to the severe shortage of personnel and transportation, the additional security requirements mean they are not transferred promptly to the general hospital or taken regularly to their clinics. In addition, across prisons, the majority of the PTA inmates had very little access to any vocational/skills training, education or prison work due to the nature of their “special” status and limited outside hours, limitation of language options available in such programs or because of the type of prison at which they are housed. Family contact for PTA prisoners continues to be difficult since most of them are from the North and East and are held in prisons in the Southern part of the country. Many PTA prisoners mentioned the difficulties, particularly financial difficulties they faced retaining legal counsel, especially due to the nature of the cases, since there is stigma attached to appearing for a PTA accused, as well as the long duration taken to file an indictment and the commencement of the trial. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the study also highlight the negative effects of long-term incarceration that PTA inmates are subjected to, with many prisoners reportedly being in remand for up to 15-20 years. The narratives of the prisoners illustrate that the legal provision, i.e. Section 7 (3) of the PTA, which allows them to be taken out of judicial custody to be interrogated creates space for the continued violation of their rights as many reported being subjected to torture during such periods of being taken out of prison for interrogation. It also undermines the protections afforded by judicial custody and the purpose of judicial oversight of detention. The role of a JMO where PTA detainees are concerned is crucial to ensure PTA detainees are able to prove whether they were forced to sign confessions under conditions of physical duress. However, the Commission received numerous allegations alleging collusions between police officers and JMOs, or JMOs not being able to communicate with PTA prisoners due to language barriers. Thus, PTA prisoners would not enjoy the right to a fair trial due to the ineffective safeguards in place during their period of administrative detention, which would enable confessions obtained under torture being admissible in court. xxii