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The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights reports |
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2002-1-23
report
" Tuberculosis ….. The slow death in the prisons of El Wadi El Gadeed and Damanhour"
Section one The legislative framework: The bad medical care of the prisoners and detainees is a blatant violation to the Egyptian Constitution. Article 42 of the Constitution states that :" Any person arrested, detained or his freedom restricted shall be treated in a manner concomitant with the preservation of his dignity . No physical no moral harm is to be inflicted upon him. He may not be detained or imprisoned except in places defined by laws organizing prisons". Article 57 stipulates that " Any assault on the individual freedom or on the inviolability of private life of citizens and any other public rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the law shall be considered a crime, whose criminal and civil lawsuit is not liable to prescription. The State shall grant a fair compensation to the victim of such an assault." Moreover, Article 40 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that no one may be arrested without a warrant from the competent authority . People under arrest shall be treated in a manner that preserves their dignity , and should not be physically or psychologically hurt." Article 42 of the same code provides for the rights of members of the public prosecution, heads and deputies of courts of first instance and appeal courts to visit general and central prisons within their jurisdiction. The right is meant to monitor the conditions of prisons and prisoners , and to allow prisoners to voice their complaints.. Article 43 of the same law upholds the right of prisoners to register oral or written complaints with the head of the prison concerning any violation they have suffered, and to request that these complaints be forwarded to the public prosecution. Furthermore, a Presidential Decree on prisons sets the general regulations for the medical treatment and care of prisoners. The executive regulations, as well as, detail the procedures that should be followed to provide the best possible medical care for prisoners. Articles 33 to 37 of the prisons set the general rules for the treatment of prisoners as follows: Article 33 stipulates that any prison which is non-central must have one or more doctors, one of them resident, to be responsible for medical affairs as stated in the internal regulations. Also, any central prison must have a doctor . In case there is no appointed doctor, the administration will assign one to perform the duties of the prison doctor. Article 34 states that a prisoner sentenced to hard labor whom the prison doctor finds unable to work will be presented to the director of the prisons medical department or a delegate from the doctors working in the department to consider his transfer to a general prison. The transfer decision is executed after being signed by the general director of prisons and the consent of the Public Prosecutor. The prison to which the sick prisoner is transferred will observe his condition and present a medical report to the director of the Medical Department if the reasons upon which he was transferred no longer apply. In this case , the director of the medical department, and the general director of the concerned medical office or his delegate from the doctors working in the department will jointly examine the prisoner to consider his return to the prison. A decision is made by the public prosecution to return him and deduct the period spent from the sentence. Article 35 states that if the prison doctor realized that one of the sentenced prisoners is mentally disturbed, he must refer him to the director of the prisons medical department to be examined. If proved to be disturbed , the prisoner will immediately be transferred to mental hospital . He shall remain in hospital until he is cured , in which case the hospital administration should inform the public prosecutor , who shall order the return of the prisoner to prison less the period he spent in hospital. Article 36 stipulates that if the prison doctor found a convicted prison to have a disease which threatens his life or may cause him total disability, the prisoner must be referred to the director of the prisons medical department and the forensic doctor for examination and to consider his release. The release order is executed after the approval of the general director of prisons, and with the consent of the public prosecutor. The concerned administration and the competent prosecution department must be informed of the case. Article 37 states that if the condition of a sick prisoner becomes serious, the prisoner officials must quickly inform the administration in the area where the family lives so that they can be informed immediately. They are allowed to visit him. In the case of a prisoner's death , his family must be informed immediately in the same manner, and upon their request , the body will be handed over to them. In the case they expressed their will to transfer the body to their home town, medical procedures will be taken at the expense of the government before handling the body, but the family will then transfer of the body at its own expense. If the death was caused by an epidemic disease, the transfer of the body is not permissible. In addition, the Minister of the Interior's Decree no. 79 of 1961 on the internal regulations of prisons stipulates the duties of prison doctors as follows: -To be responsible for all medical procedures that guarantee adequate health for the prisoners ( article 24). - To visit the prison at lease once daily ( article 26). - To examine every new prisoner, examine sick prisoners daily, and order the transfer of sick prisoners to hospital ; and to visit those in solitary confinement every week (article 27) - To keep records on the medical condition of prisoner ( article 28); to demand the segregation of any prisoner infected with a contagious disease and take the necessary procedures to prevent the spread of the disease (article 29). - To immunize prisoners upon arrival against smallpox and typhoid , and regularly against smallpox (article 30). - To inform the prison chief in writing of any deterioration in prison's health due to solitary confinement or hard labor ; the doctor should then recommend means to stop this and the prison chief must implement the doctor's recommendations (article 31). - To make sure that the prison chief or officer has implemented recommendations regarding any dietary or medical treatment changes for prisoners. In case his recommendation have not been implemented he should inform the prison administration and send a copy of his recommendations (article 33). Every individual's health has to be in the best condition, which is a basic right of him regardless to his nationality, his religion, his political believes or his economical condition. From the covenant of the International Health Organization - To write a report on any sick prisoner.(article 35). - To examine prisoners due to be transferred to another prison , and prevent the execution of the transfer, if necessary , for medical reasons, and to designate the appropriate means to transport him. (article 36). - In case the medical treatment required by a prisoner is not available at the prison dispensary or hospital , the doctor should consult a forensic doctor and report to the medical department the result of the consultation. In urgent or extraordinary cases, the prison doctor should take the appropriate procedures to improve the health of the prisoner. The prison administration should be immediately informed of the procedures he has taken. - In case the medical treatment requires that he should be examined by a specialist doctor, the prison doctor should obtain the permission of the prison officials to do so. The permission could be given on the telephone in urgent cases. The doctor should order the acceptance of medicine from the families in case the medical condition of a prisoner so requires ( article 37). Article 40 to 44 of the above mentioned Ministerial Decree 79/61 states the duties of the prison pharmacist as follows: to be responsible for keeping and maintaining all the medicines and medical equipment at the prison (article 40); to prepare the medication ordered by the prison doctor, and to examine the milk received by the prison (article 41); to give medicines only with a written order by the prison doctor (article 42); and to keep a register of all incoming and outgoing medicines and medical equipment (article 43). The prison doctor shall undertake the duties of the pharmacist in case of the latter's absence. (article 44). Article 45 to 49 of the internal regulations stipulate the medical procedures to be followed in prisons: a prisoner must have their hair cut, a bath with hot water and soap upon arrival and during stay in prison (article 45). On arrival , the prisoner must be placed under medical observation for ten days, during which time he may not mix with other prisoners or receive visits (article 46). The prison chief should inform the Medical Department of prisoners and the health office inspector of any infection, or suspected infection, of a contagious disease (article 47). My son Ahmed Mohamed Hussein has not any political or religious affiliation and has never been charged without any charges. However, I was surprised when he was detained on 7th December 1992 and he id in El Wadi El Gadeed Prison. He is 18 years old and his health is deteriorating because he has Mitral Stenosis and high blood pressure. He is responsible for all the family and his health condition is so bad. Please be compassionate and release him. We are now suffering from bad economic condition. From the real accounts the mother of the detainee The cells of prisoners with a contagious disease must be sterilized , and those who were placed in them must be put in quarantine (article 480). The prisoners infected with contagious diseases must be segregated and their utensils and furniture must be marked (article 49). In spite of all these guarantees provided by the Egyptian legislation, the EOHR is not aware in most cases on which it has received information that prisoners were given the mentioned rights. The situation has led to a number of deaths and to the deterioration of the health of many sick prisoners to a threatening level, in addition to the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics in most Egyptian prisons. All this is normal consequence of the existing negligence in the provision of medical care. The following are the major violations of the right of prisoners t o medical care. A statement , of the minister of the interiors assistant of the Prison Directorate (Major General-Sami Abd EL Gwaad ) , which was written in Alahram newspaper on 10/3/2001" The prison hospitals are built and equipped by the most modern medical apparatuses which provides the highest level of service to the prisoners as in each small prison there is a clinic where there are a doctor. These clinics are affiliated to Central Hospitals. All the medical operations are done in the educational hospitals such as El Qasr El Aini Hospital. The prison directorate appointed more than 100 doctors as well as 70 police doctors." The real accounts of a prisoner which reveals the medical neglect in the prison of " El Wadi El Gadeed"" This prison or this tomb or as the prisoner of criminal cases B call " The death valley" I will only talk about only one point which is the most horrible thing which is block no.11 - block no. 12 are the cells of TB which are full of the infected prisoners. If the prison directorate had followed up those prisoners, they should have died in one month. However, by the help of their families they are still alive. Those sick prisoners suffer a lot in the hospital of prison, as there are a state of carelessness and lack of medicine." Introduction| Section 1| Section 2| List| Section 3 |
Introduction Section 1 Section 2 List Section 3  Prisons 2002
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