What should the conditions be in the place of arrest or detention?
When arrested or detained you will be held in a cell in the police station or in a pre-trial arrest. You have the right to be held in conditions that are not inhumane or degrading. To evaluate if you are being held according to human rights standards, you should pay attention to the following basic conditions:
- Are men and women being held separately?
- Is your cell big enough for the number of people in it?
- Do you have a bed, mattress and blanket?
- Do you have a toilet and sink in your cell, which is properly separated from the rest of the cell?
- Is it too cold or too hot in the cell?
- Do you have daylight during the day and a light after dark?
- Have you been able to go for fresh air if you have been arrested for longer than 24 hours?
- Have you been fed three times a day and given unlimited access to drinking water?
- Have you received the necessary hygienic products?
In Bulgaria the details and standards of these conditions are explained in the Instruction No. 8121з-78 of 24 January 2015 of the Ministry of Interior for police detention and in the Law on the Execution of Punishments and Detention on Remand (LEPDR) for detention in the pre-trial arrests. The Instruction provides that every detainee must have at least 7 sq. m. space in an individual cell and 4 sq. m. space in a common cell. The LEPDR provides that every detainee or prisoner must have at least 4 sq. m. space.
What human rights violation may there be?
Being held in inappropriate conditions may be very humiliating and cause physical and psychological suffering. For example, if you are denied food or water, or you have to go to the toilet in front of other cellmates, or you do not have a bed and for many hours you are unable to sit or lie down. Inappropriate conditions may result in inhumane or degrading treatment.
However, the suffering has to reach some minimum level of severity to result in an inhuman or degrading treatment. When assessing whether you have been held in conditions that are inhumane or degrading, such things as the duration of the situation, the physical and psychological effects, your age, gender and the condition of your health would be taken into account. Often, the conditions at the place of detention will all be evaluated together and not on the basis of a single, isolated incident.
For mistreatment to be considered torture, the actions have to be particularly serious and cruel and cause very severe suffering. Read more about how to evaluate whether your rights have been violated.