Detention Centre upon his/her release from prison until his/her deportation to the domicile country. At the same time, the SP usually informs the relevant embassy of the prisoner’s nationality, which has to then take responsibility for the expenses of deporting the person. 13. General observations The process of admission into each prison was observed to be uniform and consistent, although the Commission observed flaws in the implementation of the admission process. With regard to recording whether the prisoner has been subjected to any form of assault prior to his/her admission to prison, it was observed that there is no mechanism in place to follow up on complaints made by prison authorities on behalf of prisoners about police assaults suffered pre-imprisonment to the police hierarchy. There is also no follow up mechanism in place to ascertain whether any action was taken by the police hierarchy or the NPC to make the perpetrators accountable. Further, the process of referring a prisoner subjected to violence to a JMO is not uniform in every prison. This may be owed to the fact that there is a lacuna in the law, which does not make it mandatory for MOs to refer prisoners to a JMO in instances where visible marks of injury are observable. Further, the Commission observed that in certain prisons the medical check-up upon admission, which is mandatory according to the law, was not being conducted due to the lack of facilities as well as lack of MOs in certain prisons. Body searches of a prisoner upon admission to a prison are considered vital as a mechanism to prevent the entry of contraband into prison. Although there are restrictions set out in law with regard to body searches, it was observed that certain violations of privacy and dignity of prisoners take place while body searches are conducted. Unavailability of new technology in most of the prisons was observed to be the main reason officers engage in manual body searches. However, the available scanners in certain prisons were also observed to be dysfunctional due to technical issues. Once a prisoner is admitted to prison, the Commission observed that certain prisoners have attempted suicide or have had suicidal instincts due to the pressure and sadness they felt inside the prison. The Commission further came across instances of violence to which prisoners were subjected on their first night in prison. The Commission observed that most prisons have become accustomed to different methods of prisoner file documentation and file management. Although certain procedures set out by the law in admitting a prisoner to a prison have been met, the Commission observed certain loopholes and inefficiencies on the part of the relevant authorities in following such procedures. The records of every prisoner are maintained by the RC Branch of every prison, but the methods practiced in maintaining the files of every prisoner were observed to vary from prison to prison. The lack of an efficient and consistent method of maintaining prisoner records was found to be an obstacle in locating as well as monitoring prisoners. It was further observed that a digital centralized database to maintain prisoner records exists in certain 69