You have the right to use proper toilet facilities in private whenever you have the need.
Location
The toilet facilities may be inside or outside of your cell. If there is no toilet in your cell, you should be taken outside of your cell to use it, without undue delay, when required (including at night). You should not have to wait for a long time to use a toilet which is outside the cell.
Type of facilities
The toilet facilities should be adequate. This means that there should be proper toilets, not a bucket which is “slopped out” at some point.
Maintenance and cleanliness
The toilet facilities must be properly maintained and kept clean at all times to avoid infections or bad smells. You must remember that keeping good order and cleanliness is also partly your duty, therefore, when the internal rules of the prison require you to clean your cell, you must do it diligently.
Privacy
If the toilet is inside your cell, it must be separated from the living area. You and your cellmates must be able to use the toilet in private, without other persons seeing you. The toilet must also be far enough from the beds, dining tables and other furniture so as not to cause any discomfort to persons who are eating or resting.
example If there are bunk beds in your cell, the toilet should be placed far enough away and separated in a way that a person using it is not visible to a person on the highest bed.
What human rights violation may there be?
Prohibition against inhuman or degrading treatment
Depending on the circumstances, a lack of proper toilet facilities may lead to a violation of your right not to be treated in an inhumane or degrading way or a violation of your right to private life. However, for it to be inhumane or degrading treatment or even torture, the effect that such conditions leave on your physical or mental condition must reach a certain level of severity.
example If you had to wait for half an hour to access the toilet, it would most probably not violate your rights. However, if you regularly have to wait long hours to use the toilet, it would be a violation of your rights.
Read more about how to evaluate whether your rights have been violated.
How to complain
If you believe that your rights have been violated, you might complain to the prison administration, to the director of Directorate General “Execution of Punishments” or to the prosecutor. You might also submit a request for the termination of the violation or a claim for compensation of the damages suffered to the administrative court.
Read more about how to complain.