The Urgent Action Network


International Documents


Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
Article 22
  • (1) At every institution there shall be available the services of at least one qualified medical officer who should have some knowledge of psychiatry. The medical services should be organized in close relationship to the general health administration of the community or nation. They shall include a psychiatric service for the diagnosis and, in proper cases, the treatment of states of abnormality.
  • (2) Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Where hospital facilities are provided in an institution, their equipment, furnishings and pharmaceutical supplies shall be proper for the medical care and treatment of sick prisoners, and there shall be a staff of suitably trained officers.
  • (3) The services of a qualified dental officer shall be available to every prisoner.
Article 23
  • (1) In women's institutions there shall be special accommodation for all nessary pre-natal and post-natal care and treatment. Arrangements shall be made wherever practicable for children to be born in a hospital outside the institution. If a child is born in prison, this fact shall not be mentioned on the birth certificate.
  • (2) Where nursing infants are allowed to remain in the institution with their mothers, provision shall be made for a nursery staffed by qualified persons, and where the infants shall be placed when they are not in the care of their mothers.
Article 24
  • The medical officer shall see and examine every prisoner as soon as possible after his admission and thereafter as necessary, with a view particularly to theticle 24: The medical officer shall see and examine every prisoner as soon as possible after his admission and thereafter as necessary, with a view particularly to the discovery of physical or mental illness and the taking of all necessary measures; the segregation of prisoners suspected of infectious or contagious conditions; the noting of physical or mental defects which might hamper rehabilitation and determination of the physical capacity of every prisoner for work.
Article 31
  • Corporal punishment, punishment by placing in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as punishments for disciplinary offenses.
Article 37
  • Prisoners shall be allowed, under necessary supervision, to communicate with their family and reputable friends at regular intervals, both by correspondence and by receiving visits.

Amnesty International seeks observance of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. It may prove effective for UA participants to become familiar with these documents and refer to them in some appeals. In cases of torture, refer to the United Nations Declaration on the Protections of all Persons from Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1975.