Transfer

No person shall be received in a prison without a valid commitment order. The following information shall be entered in the prisoner file management system upon admission of every prisoner: [...]
(c) The day and hour of his or her admission and release as well as of any transfer [...]

All prisons shall ensure prompt access to medical attention in urgent cases. Prisoners who require specialized treatment or surgery shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Where a prison service has its own hospital facilities, they shall be adequately staffed and equipped to provide prisoners referred to them with appropriate treatment and care.

Other instruments of restraint shall only be used when authorized by law and in the following circumstances:
(a) As a precaution against escape during a transfer, provided that they are removed when the prisoner appears before a judicial or administrative authority [...]

Every prisoner shall have the right, and shall be given the ability and means, to inform immediately his or her family, or any other person designated as a contact person, about his or her imprisonment, about his or her transfer to another institution and about any serious illness or injury. The sharing of prisoners’ personal information shall be subject to domestic legislation.

In the event of a prisoner’s death, the prison director shall at once inform the prisoner’s next of kin or emergency contact. Individuals designated by a prisoner to receive his or her health information shall be notified by the director of the prisoner’s serious illness, injury or transfer to a health institution. The explicit request of a prisoner not to have his or her spouse or nearest relative notified in the event of illness or injury shall be respected.

1. When prisoners are being removed to or from an institution, they shall be exposed to public view as little as possible, and proper safeguards shall be adopted to protect them from insult, curiosity and publicity in any form.

2. The transport of prisoners in conveyances with inadequate ventilation or light, or in any way which would subject them to unnecessary physical hardship, shall be prohibited.

3. The transport of prisoners shall be carried out at the expense of the prison administration and equal conditions shall apply to all of them.

Persons who are found to be not criminally responsible, or who are later diagnosed with severe mental disabilities and/or health conditions, for whom staying in prison would mean an exacerbation of their condition, shall not be detained in prisons, and arrangements shall be made to transfer them to mental health facilities as soon as possible.

Promptly after arrest and after each transfer from one place of detention or imprisonment to another, a detained or imprisoned person shall be entitled to notify or to require the competent authority to notify members of his family or other appropriate persons of his choice of his arrest, detention or imprisonment or of the transfer and of the place where he is kept in custody.

If a detained or imprisoned person so requests, he shall if possible be kept in a place of detention or imprisonment reasonably near his usual place of residence.

Women prisoners shall be allocated, to the extent possible, to prisons close to their home or place of social rehabilitation, taking account of their caretaking  responsibilities, as well as the individual woman‟s preference and the availability  of appropriate programmes and services.

Where relevant bilateral or multilateral agreements are in place, the transfer of non-resident foreign-national women prisoners to their home country, especially if they have children in their home country, shall be considered as early as possible during their imprisonment, following the application or informed consent of the woman concerned.

Where a child living with a non-resident foreign-national woman prisoner is to be removed from prison, consideration should be given to relocation of the child to its home country, taking into account the best interests of the child and in consultation with the mother.

In every place where juveniles are detained, a complete and secure record of the following information should be kept concerning each juvenile received:

(c)  The day and hour of admission, transfer and release ;

The information on admission, place, transfer and release should be provided without delay to the parents and guardians or closest relative of the juvenile concerned.

The transport of juveniles should be carried out at the expense of the administration in conveyances with adequate ventilation and light, in conditions that should in no way subject them to hardship or indignity. Juveniles should not be transferred from one facility to another arbitrarily.

c) Ensure, to the extent possible, that all prisoners participate in decisions regarding the  place of detention appropriate to their sexual orientation and gender identity.

In addition to the requirements of section 7 (1) of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners relating to registration books at detention facilities, the Working Group is bound to encourage States to further include the following information on the detainee: (i) the signature of the detainee upon entry, transfer or release; (ii) the prescribed maximum duration of detention; (iii) date and time of transfer to another detention facility, if applicable, and the authority therefor; and (iv) if applicable, the date when the prisoner is eligible for early release on probation.

If detained, asylum-seekers are entitled to the following minimum conditions of detention:

(xiv) The frequent transfer of asylum-seekers from one detention facility to another should be avoided, not least because they can hinder access to and contact with legal representatives.

Asylum-seekers with disabilities must enjoy the rights included in these Guidelines without discrimination. This may require States to make “reasonable accommodations” or changes to detention policy and practices to match their specific requirements and needs. A swift and systematic identification and registration of such persons is needed to avoid arbitrary detention; and any alternative arrangements may need to be tailored to their specific needs, such as telephone reporting for persons with physical constraints. As a general rule, asylum-seekers with long-term physical, mental, intellectual and sensory impairments should not be detained. In addition, immigration proceedings need to be accessible to persons with disabilities, including where this is needed to facilitate their rights to freedom of movement.

Older asylum-seekers may require special care and assistance owing to their age, vulnerability, lessened mobility, psychological or physical health, or other conditions. Without such care and assistance, their detention may become unlawful. Alternative arrangements would need to take into account their particular circumstances, including physical and mental well-being.

Moreover, international standards applicable to the transfer and transport of persons deprived of liberty also establish as measures of protection - for example, against disappearance and incommunicado solitary confinement ‐ the right of all detainees or prisoner to immediately inform his family or a third party of his transfer to another facility; the duty of the authorities to keep records of the persons who enter centers of deprivation of liberty, which have to include: the authority ordering and executing the transfer and the date and time of day when it was carried out.

Prisoners shall be allocated, as far as possible, to prisons close to their homes or places of social rehabilitation.

As far as possible, prisoners shall be consulted about their initial allocation and any subsequent transfer from one prison to another.

While prisoners are being moved to or from a prison, or to other places such as court or hospital, they shall be exposed to public view as little as possible and proper safeguards shall be adopted to ensure their anonymity.

The transport of prisoners in conveyances with inadequate ventilation or light, or which would subject them in any way to unnecessary physical hardship or indignity, shall be prohibited.

The transport of prisoners shall be carried out at the expense and under the direction of the public authorities.

The transfers of persons deprived of liberty shall be authorized and supervised by the competent authorities, who shall, in all circumstances, respect the dignity and fundamental rights of persons deprived of liberty, and shall take into account the need of persons to be deprived of liberty in places near their family, community, their defense counsel or legal representative, and the tribunal or other State body that may be in charge of their case.

The transfers shall not be carried out in order to punish, repress, or discriminate against persons deprived of liberty, their families or representatives; nor shall they be conducted under conditions that cause physical or mental suffering, are humiliating or facilitate public exhibition.

Naturally, the CPT is also attentive to the particular problems that might be encountered by certain specific categories of prisoners, for example: women, juveniles and foreigners.

The transfer of troublesome prisoners is another practice of interest to the CPT. Certain prisoners are extremely difficult to handle, and the transfer of such a prisoner to another establishment can sometimes prove necessary. However, the continuous moving of a prisoner from one establishment to another can have very harmful effects on his psychological and physical well being. Moreover, a prisoner in such a position will have difficulty in maintaining appropriate contacts with his family and lawyer.
The overall effect on the prisoner of successive transfers could under certain circumstances amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.

States should have in place, and make known, laws, policies and standard operating procedures, which accord with Member States’ obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international law and standards, to:

i. Ensure that any transfer of detainees is authorised by law, that detainees are only moved to and from official gazetted places of detention, that movements are recorded in a register in accordance with Part 4 of these Guidelines, and that detainees’ next of kin and/all legal representatives are informed about the transfer prior to the transfer taking effect.