that States have an obligation to adopt provisions of domestic law, including adequate
practices, to ensure equal access to health care services for persons deprived of liberty, and
to ensure the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of such services.
178.
In particular, having regard to the provisions of the United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, States must provide professional medical care,
including psychiatric care, to persons deprived of liberty, both in emergency situations and for
the purposes of regular care, either within the place of detention or prison or, if this is not
available, in hospitals or health care centers where that service is provided. Health care
services should prepare and maintain accurate, up-to-date and confidential medical files on
all prisoners, who must be granted access to those files upon request. Health care services
should be organized and coordinated with the general public health administration, which
implies establishing effective and prompt procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of sick
prisoners and, when they require special care for their health condition, their transfer to
specialized penal establishments or civil hospitals. To fulfil these obligations, health care
protocols and prompt and effective mechanisms for transporting prisoners are required,
particularly in cases of emergency or serious illness. 256
179.
In addition, States should, inter alia, create appropriate mechanisms to inspect
institutions, present, investigate and resolve complaints and establish appropriate disciplinary
or judicial procedures for cases of improper professional conduct or any violation of the rights
of persons deprived of liberty.257
180.
Several Member States of the Organization of American States have incorporated
into their domestic laws specific standards to protect the health of prisoners; measures or
procedures for their regular and emergency treatment; alternative measures to imprisonment
in specific circumstances; and administrative and judicial control with respect to those
Article 22 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. See also Articles
25 and 26. More recently, the revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also
known as the “Nelson Mandela Rules”, as a manifestation of the global consensus on certain minimum standards for
the medical care of the persons deprived of liberty, had established that every prison must have a health care service
tasked with evaluating, promoting, protecting and improving the physical and mental health of prisoners, paying
particular attention to those with special health care needs or with health issues that hamper their rehabilitation (Rule
25); the need to prepare and maintain appropriate individual medical records (Rule 26); prisons must ensure that
prisoners have prompt access to medical attention in urgent cases; prisoners who require specialized treatment or
surgery must be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals; and where the prison service has its own
hospital facilities, they shall be adequately staffed and equipped to provide prisoners referred to them with appropriate
treatment and care (Rule 27). This amendment of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 17, 2015. See:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/175&referer=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/j
ustice-and-prison-reform/tools.html?ref=menuside&Lang=S
256
Cf., mutatis mutandi, Case of Suarez Peralta v. Ecuador, supra, para. 134; and Case of Ximenes Lopes v.
Brazil, supra, paras. 89 and 99.
257
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