LEGAL think-tank Veritas says that all prisoners, even those incarcerated for the most heinous crimes, have constitutional rights to be treated by a medical practitioner of their choice as well as rights to an inquest to find out the causes of their deaths should they so die in prison.<\/p>\n
In their latest Bill Watch online publication, Veritas said even the recent tragic death of vendor, Hilton Tamangani at Harare Remand Prison cells on October 18 after allegedly being beaten up by the police must go through a public inquest so that the causes of his death are exposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever the cause of Tamangani\u2019s death, the events surrounding it show a deplorable disregard for his constitutional rights as a prisoner,\u201d the Veritas report read.<\/p>\n
\u201cSection 50(5) (c) of the Constitution provides that anyone who is detained has the right to communicate with, and be visited by, their relatives, their chosen religious counsellor, their chosen lawyer and their chosen medical practitioner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right to be visited by all these people is important, but it is particularly important for prisoners to be allowed to see their medical practitioners, as Tamangani\u2019s case so tragically demonstrates.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legal think-tank said when prisoners are in custody, it means that the State is responsible for ensuring their health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf medical facilities in prisons are inadequate \u2013 and it is notorious that they are basic at best and rudimentary or non-existent at worst \u2013 then the prison authorities must take prisoners to hospitals outside their prisons or allow them to receive care and treatment from their own medical practitioners,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n
The think-tank\u2019s statement also comes at a time Parliament is in the process of crafting the Coroner\u2019s Office Bill which will provide for the establishment of the Coroner\u2019s Office, responsible for investigating all deaths that come about as a result of unnatural causes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe office will be responsible for carrying out through independent investigations into deaths in hospitals, prisons, police cells and any other places that are not due to natural causes. The office will further investigate into circumstances surrounding unnatural deaths like homicide, infanticide, suicides and accidents,\u201d the Coroners Bill read.<\/p>\n
Veritas said prisoners, as human beings, can also be in poor health, so they need their own medical practitioners to treat them not prison doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrisoners who claim they have been assaulted by the police or prison authorities may need to be examined by their own doctors in order to establish their claims. Above all, prison authorities must remember that prisoners have rights. Prisoners are deprived of much of their freedom of movement \u2013 they cannot leave their prison whenever they want to \u2013 and they may be deprived of other rights and freedoms so far as it is necessary to prevent them escaping and to maintain discipline in prisons,\u201d Veritas noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut apart from that they have all the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed them by 50(5)(c) of the Constitution. Even prisoners who have been found guilty of the most heinous crimes remain human beings entitled to their basic human rights. And it must be remembered that Tamangani was an awaiting trial prisoner who had not been tried for, let alone found guilty of, any crime at all,\u201d Veritas added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LEGAL think-tank Veritas says that all prisoners, even those incarcerated for the most heinous crimes, have constitutional rights to be treated by a medical practitioner of their choice as well as rights to an inquest to find out the causes of their deaths should they so die in prison. In their latest Bill Watch online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[800,657,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-15539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-government-of-zimbabwe","10":"tag-high-court","11":"tag-human-right"},"yoast_head":"\n