Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2009) 15: 444-450. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.108.006379
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the treatment of prisoners{dagger}

Martin Curtice and John Sandford

Martin Curtice is a consultant in old age psychiatry in Birmingham, UK. He sits on the Special Committee on Human Rights at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has obtained a Master of Laws with Distinction in Mental Health Law and his interests are in mental health law and the Human Rights Act 1998. John Sandford is a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Llanarth Hospital in Monmouthshire, UK, and visiting consultant forensic psychiatrist at Her Majesty’s Prison and Young Offender Institute Ashfield near Bristol. His interests include the interface between science, law and public policy and the biology of antisocial behaviour.

Correspondence: Correspondence Dr Martin Curtice, Hollyhill Unit, Rubery Lane, Rubery, Birmingham B45 9AY, UK. Email: mjrc{at}ukonline.co.uk

People detained in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, police custody and immigration detention centres remain a cause of concern, particularly to professionals, politicians and the media. As the number of people detained by the state increases, Courts have been taking an increasing interest in cases in which individuals have died in state custody. Such cases are subsumed under Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 – the right to life. Article 2 case law has elucidated key principles that can be applied in practice. Importantly, it imposes on states not only a negative duty not to take life intentionally or negligently, but also a positive duty to safeguard life. The inherent positive obligations have two aspects: first, there is a duty to provide an effective and impartial investigation in cases of death resulting from the activities of state officials, and second, a duty to safeguard and protect life.