Torture constitutes the worst imaginable human rights abuse. It is a crushing blow to the body and spirit and destroys the trust between human beings. From its establishment, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has taken a significant part in the struggle against torture in Israel (see past position papers and reports) and has set the struggle against doctors’ involvement in torture as a main goal, grounded in the belief that the chances for abolishing torture from the world would be higher if doctors were not used to mask this practice.

Health professionals often find themselves in a situation that is commonly described as “dual loyalty”: A state in which they find themselves obliged to parties other than their patient(s). In closed institutions like prisons, jails or the military, the consequences of speaking out can be severe.

It is a widely accepted fact that the most effective way to ensure prisoners’ rights, proper incarceration conditions and access to health care - is to increase transparency in incarceration facilities, provide monitoring by external bodies and effective mechanisms available to prisoners for filing complaints concerning their incarceration conditions.

Dozens of prisoners and detainees are held in solitary confinement in prisons each year as punishment for disciplinary offenses. Inmates are also held in separation for reasons of national security, prison security or the security of other inmates. In separation the inmate is held in a single cell in which he does not have any contact with other inmates.