Despite the advice of the Comptroller General on the issue of care given to detainees in health establishments, difficulties persist with respect to their rights.
This is commonly called the double penalty! This Thursday, the Comptroller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) published a notice relating to the care of persons detained in health establishments. The results are final. Many of the rights of hospitalized detainees are violated. This, even though these patients have, in principle, the same rights of access to care as all the others “subject to the restrictions linked to the deprivation of freedom to come and go to which they are subject”.
Too many medical extractions
To begin with, the magistrate Adeline Hazan notes that “too many medical extractions are made necessary because of the low number of specialists intervening in detention”. The CGLPL therefore recommends strengthening the presence of specialists within health units, but also that a reflection be carried out so that detainees who meet the legal conditions benefit from temporary absences to go alone to a health establishment.
The independent authority stresses that currently, the modalities of medical extractions are not satisfactory. The CGLPL notes that, for the most part, detainees are handcuffed and shackled during transfer, but also during consultations and medical examinations, and sometimes even during surgical operations.
One of the recommended solutions is the use of telemedicine, which, in prison, would be “a device capable of allowing rapid and quality access to medical specialists”, according to the magistrate.
Medical secrecy inapplicable
Another concern of Adeline Hazan, the presence of escort personnel during consultations or medical examinations which does not allow “to ensure the respect of medical confidentiality”. The CGLPL therefore recommends that medical consultations take place without the presence of an escort and that surveillance be indirect (out of sight and out of the detained patient’s ear).
No privacy in the rooms
Worse still, once in their hospital room, the condition of the detainees is not satisfactory. The layout and equipment of secure rooms would too often meet the sole security criteria and therefore resemble more “a place of detention than a place of care”.
Thus, in some establishments, the configuration of the sanitary facilities does not allow the privacy of patients to be respected (no curtain isolating the sanitary facilities from the rest of the room, for example).
A growing renunciation of care
As a result of this situation, many detained people forgo treatment, deplore the Controller. To avoid this, the CGLPL believes that information on the material conditions of hospitalization must be provided to the detained patient, prior to his hospitalization (list of authorized and prohibited personal effects), and upon his arrival in the health establishment. (welcome booklet relating to the conditions of hospitalization in secure rooms as well as the related rights).
In addition, the Controller calls for respect for the fundamental right to maintain family links. Still too often, for example, access to the telephone is not effective (no set in the secure rooms and inability to control conversations). Detained patients also cannot receive visits from relatives and counsel, regardless of their criminal status, and even if such visitors usually hold visiting permits.
Finally, in almost all of the secure rooms, the detained patients do not benefit from any activity (no television, radio, books or newspapers). They also do not have an outdoor space for ventilation and, if necessary, smoking. “A television should be installed and newspapers should be made available”, concludes the CGLPL opinion.
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