Prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment: medical implications of a new European convention.

A new European convention creates a mechanism for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatments of detained people through visits by outside, independent teams with unlimited access to places of detention. The convention has important implications for the medical profession: firstly, visits to psychiatric hospitals will be included and, in particular, to secure facilities, where the risk of human rights abuses is well established; and, secondly, the adequacy and ethics of medical care in prisons will be a key issue in assessing the protection of prisoners' human rights. The convention should be welcomed by the medical profession as a stimulus to the improvement of medical care for detained people.