The Council of Europe (CoE) is assisting the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Ministry of Corrections (MoC) in improving the management of hunger strikes at Temporary Detention Isolators (TDI) and exchanging medical files of convicts between TDIs and prisons.

Currently, the MIA has no policy document which would regulate the management of hunger strikes at TDIs. Likewise, no detailed instructions are available for the prison and police staff on transferring personal medical files when a defendant is moved to a prison. To fill this gap, CoE international and national experts on 20-21 October led a series of consultations with prison and police officials, forming a working group, which discussed existing practices and identified areas for improvement. The working group will draw up outlines of these regulatory documents in line with the European standards.  According to the working group’s schedule, a draft order of the Minister of Internal Affairs on the rules of managing hunger strikes at TDIs, as well as a draft joint order of the MIA and MoC on the transfer of personal medical files should be finalised and submitted for adoption before January 2015.

This activity is organised in the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Human Rights in Prisons and Other Closed Institutions”. The programme was launched in July 2013 and aims to strengthen human rights and improving access to healthcare for persons deprived of their liberty.