I found systematic beatings of detainees upon arrest or within the first hours of detention, including during interrogation. Very often beatings are inflicted by the police as a form of punishment of suspects, reflecting complete disrespect for the presumption of innocence and the dignity of persons suspected of crimes. Widely practiced methods include beatings with car fan belts, bush knives, gun butts, iron rods, wooden sticks, stones, punching and kicking, used mainly to punish and intimidate detainees and to establish authority. While I did not find more sophisticated and brutal methods of torture, understood in the classical sense of this term, there is no doubt that police beatings often reached the level of torture, as defined in the UN Convention against Torture (CAT). This worrying fact has been corroborated by medical evidence in a high number of cases.It doesn't get better after that -
Outside detention, the police often use excessive force, not only in dealing with crime but also, for example, in evicting residents from settlements. I could collect first hand information during a visit to the Five-Mile Ridge Settlement. Excessive use of force amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.Rule of law?
In correctional institutions, those who attempt or succeed in escaping are subjected to torture upon recapture as a standard practice. The forms of torture applied include brutal beatings with bush knives and gun butts, shooting detainees’ legs and feet at close range and cutting their tendons with bush knives and axes after they are apprehended, with the intent of disabling them. The victims are usually kept in punishment cells without any medical treatment, which sometimes leads to their death, as recently experienced in Baisu Correctional Institution near Mount Hagen. Collective punishment is also often applied in correctional institutions, where whole sections are sanctioned for the actions of a select number of detainees.
The lack of effective complaints mechanisms, independent investigation and monitoring and similar safeguards create an environment of impunity fueling these practices. There is a general atmosphere of violence and neglect in all police lock-ups and in many correctional institutions. It was also apparent that detainees had no knowledge of or trust in any complaint mechanisms available to them. The lack of effective oversight mechanisms and the prevalence of bribery in the criminal justice system result in prolonged detention in police custody or on remand for detainees, particularly those lacking financial means.The description of incarceration is just as depressing -
Police lock-ups are built for short periods of detention of up to 24 or 48 hours. Detainees should be brought before a judge, within this time, who should either release them or transfer them to a remand centre under a different authority. In Papua New Guinea however, police lock-ups are used to keep detainees on remand for a considerable time, often for many months or even for more than one year. I am deeply concerned about the fact that many persons suspected of having committed a criminal offence are locked up for prolonged periods in appalling conditions of detention in police custody. This practice generally amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, in violation of Articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.The Rapporteur comments that "correctional institutions are in principle open institutions which provide convicted prisoners with some opportunity to work outside their compounds. Women are separated from men and juveniles are, in principle, separated from adults."
During the visits, I witnessed that detainees were locked up in overcrowded, filthy cells, without proper ventilation, natural light or access to food and water for washing, drinking and for using the toilets. The alleged shortage of water in police stations in the Highlands region is difficult to understand considering its natural availability in the area, giving the impression that access to water is deliberately restricted. Also in the Highlands, where the temperatures can be particularly low at night, detainees were often left without any blanket or warm clothes, while sleeping on concrete floors. In general, detainees were hardly ever taken out of their cells, and I found several instances where the officers on duty did not even have the keys to some of the cells, raising serious safety concerns, such as at Kundiawa and Mount Hagen Police Stations. In the latter, detainees were forced to urinate and defecate in plastic bags and bottles, which were then picked up by the female detainees and piled up in the small common space. In all police stations, detainees were forced to sleep on the floor. Although in some cases they were allowed to receive visitors, it was often only for a few minutes. In addition, despite the very small amount of food provided to the detainees, food provided by families was often rejected.
The poor conditions of prolonged detention in police lock-ups provide a hotbed for the spread of cholera and other contagious diseases. Access to medical care was generally non-existent, leading sometimes to death in police custody. In other instances, the delayed access to any medical care led to avoidable amputations and the spread of disease among the detainees. The overall impression was one of negligence. While none of the police stations can be regarded as complying with international minimum standards for the humane treatment of detainees, the conditions in Goroka and Mount Hagen Police Stations were particularly appalling, in total disrespect for human dignity. The lock-up at Mount Hagen Police Station should be immediately closed.
The reality is different, in an indication of state incapacity -
detainees on remand are not separated from convicted prisoners, which constitutes a violation of Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Although they sleep in separate cellblocks, they mix with convicted prisoners during daytime. Persons convicted to death are kept together with other prisoners at Bomana Correctional Institution and are not discriminated in special death row sections. The last execution was carried out in 1954.Concerns regarding medical treatment are reinforced in the note that -
With the exception of a few correctional institutions, the prison conditions are generally poor. Overcrowding is common, particularly in high-risk and remand sections. Most prisons do not have sufficient beds, mosquito nets nor blankets. In addition, very few cells have running water, contributing to poor hygienic conditions. This, coupled with the lack of medical access, leads to the spread of contagious diseases and a high level of fear among the detainees. Furthermore, the food provided to the detainees in the entire country is insufficient and of a very low nutritional value.
The detention or punishment cells in the correctional institutions are of particular concern. The cells are overcrowded, holding up to three times their capacity. In Bomana and Baisu Correctional Institutions, those held in detention cells were mainly escapees who had been severely beaten upon recapture, and had to spend up to three months without access to medical attention. After a mass breakout in Baisu Correctional Institution on 13 April 2010, two detainees died in their detention cells as a result of severe beatings and a lack of access to medical treatment.
Medical care in detention facilities is insufficient or totally non-existent throughout the country. The psychiatric support to detention facilities is not in compliance with international minimum standards. Psychiatric evaluations should be done on a routine basis, and in an independent and professional manner. Laloki Psychiatric Hospital is the only facility in the country for persons with mental disabilities. Even so, it does not have adequate staff, namely permanent resident psychiatrists. In addition, the facilities are old and fairly run down.
It seems that Papua New Guinea lacks a proper forensic system capable of assuring timely and adequate examinations of victims of torture and ill-treatment, as well as prompt and complete forensic autopsies in accordance with international standards.
I am very concerned about the practice of the police to deliberately disable persons suspected of serious crimes and those who escape from detention. In a privately run Rehabilitation Centre for Persons with Disabilities, I carried out several interviews with persons who were disabled by the police. In addition, I found many detainees with physical and mental disabilities in prisons and police lock-ups who have no access to adequate medical treatment and rehabilitation.
