Geneva Institute for Human Rights

Governments should ban the use of solitary confinement as a punishment or extortion technique in all but exceptional cases, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, told the UN General Assembly in presenting his first interim report on October 18.

“Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system,” the rights expert stressed. While there is no universal definition for solitary confinement, Mendez defined it as “any regime where an inmate is held in isolation from others (except guards) for at least twenty-two hours a day.”

Mendez called for the ban to extend to juveniles, persons with mental disabilities, and detainees being held in pre-trial detention. Solitary confinement in excess of fifteen days should be universally prohibited, he said. For shorter terms or for legitimate disciplinary reasons, he added, the practice could still amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if the physical conditions of prison regime (sanitation, access to food and water) are sub-standard.

Méndez, from Argentina, was appointed Special Rapporteur on November 1, 2010. He serves in an individual, not governmental, capacity.

The full report by the Special Rapporteur can be read at:
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/445...