Key Issues causes by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) and other related ministries, particularly the Ministry of Health (MOH). The Commission is immensely concerned to discover that between the year 2000 and February 2014, a total of 242 deaths of persons while under police custody were recorded. 85.12 per cent of those deaths were attributed to health reasons, while suicide was identified as the second highest cause at 12.39 per cent for those fatalities. In line with the Lock-Up Rules 1953, the Commission underscores the importance of health screening, both physical and mental, for individuals before they are held in lock-up. MOHA and the MOH must assist the police by ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of medical officers afforded for this purpose. This is important to allow the police to identify any special measures required not only to ensure the safety of arrested persons, but also so that police personnel can ready themselves against the spread of infectious diseases, as well as possible attacks by aggressive arrested persons especially those with mental health problems. At this juncture, the Commission could not yet dismiss the potential link of those deaths to the deplorable physical conditions of certain lock-ups, which conditions are exacerbated by overcrowding, coupled with the lack of health screening. The hygiene conditions of certain lock-ups inspected by the Commission clearly fall short of the international minimum standard rules, which could lead to health problems. Overcrowding, as a result of an insufficient number of lock-ups, in addition to the sharing of police lock-ups with other enforcement bodies and religious authorities for the temporary placement of detained persons under their jurisdictions, is another longstanding issue faced by the police. Matters are made worse due to insufficient manpower. MOHA is urged to review these issues and to consider building more lock-ups in order to minimise overcrowding, as well as to increase the number of personnel deployed to handle detainees, which in turn could lower the risk of infections and fights between detainees. 5. RIGHT TO HEALTH IN PRISONS The Commission’s study on “Right to Health in Prisons” has progressed to the assessment of data gathered from its 2014 visits to detention facilities as well as surveys and interviews with inmates and/or prison authorities. While there appears to be improvement in the timeliness of health screenings upon admission to prisons, there is no standard policy for regular health inspections subsequent to admission. The Commission emphasises that diseases may be contracted at any point during incarceration. Therefore, regular health checks should be ensured to avoid outbreaks and the spread of serious diseases. Health screenings must also be ensured before an inmate is transferred from one prison to another. 21 BOOK-ANR2016-01-latest.indb 21 08/04/2016 3:32 PM