1993-2018 ,u ,p vkj lh % iPphl o’kZ&vla[; vk’kk,a Nhrc : Twenty Five Years-billion Hopes of allegations of ill treatment. Ideally, such tasks should be performed by an independent doctor from outside the prison system. 16.Regardless of the security issues, health care staff should have unrestricted access at any time and any place to all prisoners, including those subject to disciplinary measures. The doctor in charge is responsible for ensuring that each prisoner can, in practice; exert his/her right of access to health care at any time. 17.Health care staff should never participate in the initiation or enforcement of any sanctions, as this is not a medical act and thus to participate will jeopardize any subsequent doctor–patient relationship with the prisoner and with all prisoners. 18.Prisoners who are placed in isolation should be evaluated initially and periodically for acute mental illness, drug or alcohol withdrawal and injuries. If these are identi ied, prisoners should have access to prompt and effective treatment. Doctors should not certify itness for isolation. 19. Furthermore, doctors must immediately inform the prison management if a prisoner presents with a health problem. 20.In situations of extreme tension the prison authorities can decide to use physical restraints on one or more prisoners for the purpose of preventing self-harm or harm to other prisoners and staff. Restraints must only be applied for the shortest time possible to achieve these purposes and should never be used as a form of punishment. Since the decision to use restraints in situations of violence is not a medical act, the doctor must have no role in the process. 21.Medical personnel should never carry out medical acts on prisoners who are under restraint (including handcuffed), except for patients suffering from an acute mental illness or delirium with potential for immediate serious risk for themselves or others. Moreover, doctors should never agree to examine a blindfolded prisoner. 22.Prison doctors and nurses should not carry out body searches, blood or urine tests for drug metabolites or any other examinations except on medical grounds and with the consent of the patient. Vaginal, anal and other intrusive bodily inspections are primarily a security rather than a medical procedure, and thus should not form part of the duties of prison health care staff. On the rare occasions when intimate body searches are deemed necessary, they should be performed by doctors who are, as far as possible, external to the prison. FORENSIC INVESTIGATION | 11