Torturing Environments

Pau Pérez-Sales is a Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of the SiR[a] Centre for Assessment and Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors. He is Editor-in-Chief of Torture Journal, author of Psychological Torture (Routledge, 2017), and a forensic expert in national and international courts.

• Torturing environments: Review of the concept and applicationsList of TablesAbout the author: Pau Pérez-SalesWhy this book?AcknowledgementsChapter 1Understanding Torture and Torturing Environments1. Definition of Torture: a quick reminderThe legal definition and its complexities2. Torturing Environments: A New Conceptual FrameworkElements of the legal definition of Torture and Torturing EnvironmentsIs suffering a necessary element of a Torturing Environment?What about Intentionality and Purpose?Acting in official capacity. State Responsibility in Torturing EnvironmentsTorturing environments do not need to be physical. There can be mental jailsAny element of everyday life can be part of a Torturing EnvironmentBut then: are torturing environments the same or equivalent to torture?3. Unpacking torturous environmentsPhysical SurvivalSense of security: FearThe importance of Control: Powerlessness, uncertainty and uncontrollabilityIdentity, Dignity and attacks on the selfDefining identityShattering core beliefsDignity and moral harm: humiliation, guilt and shame4. Torturing Environments as applied to collective subjectsBeyond the Individual: Coercion, Identity, and the Targeting of CommunitiesDoes a torturing environment for groups or communities imply a crime of torture?Components of a torturing environment as applied to groups or communitiesThe case of the Zapatista communities in ChiapasChapter 2Torturing or Torturous Environments: Contexts of Application.Police stations and other Short-Term detention centres.Incommunicado detention and torture in Spain.Prison as a Torturing EnvironmentEvin Prison. Documentary analysisMacarena Rodriguez - Network of Independent Forensic Experts of MexicoConditions in confinementJulian Assange: Life conditions in the Embassy of Ecuador.Torturing environments in the context of migrationMexico and migrant detention centres as torturous environmentsGreece. The camp of Moria on the island of Lesvos. Architecture of torture in Europe.Spain's African border: the impacts of receptionThe concept of Torturing Environment applied to groups or communities. Rama and Creole Peoples in defence of their collective rights.Can poverty be a form of CIDT or torture?The slum of Cañada Real Galiana: a history of resistanceThreats and Harassment of Human Rights Defenders.Collective José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR) versus Colombia.Chapter 3Legal precedents supporting the notion of Torturing EnvironmentsSpecial Rapporteur on Torture.Factors determining whether an "environment" is considered a cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Regional and International human rights bodiesRegional and international human rights tribunalsCan Torturing Environments exist without an intentional element?On the so-called "cumulative effects” and the duration of the conditions amounting to ill-treatment or torture.On the determination of sufferingOn the progressive incorporation of a community or group perspective in the assessment of cases by CourtsOn the concept of "coercive environment" in international law.Coercive environments versus Torturing EnvironmentsCase studiesEnforced disappearance.Ill-treatment in institutions for persons with disabilitiesHuman Rights violations against ethnic groups.Actions on indigenous peoplesChapter 4Learnings and discussions on defining and measuring torturous environmentsThe Torturing Environments Scale: focus on persons or institutions.Measuring Torturing Environments. TES and TES 2.0.Adapting the TES to local conditionsValidation studiesTesting and discussing the TESWhere to put the eye: the difficulties inherent to the analysis of torturing environments and ideas to sort them.Some guidance on the objective-subjective dilemmaInter-rater reliability.Score and overall rating.Chapter 5. The Torturing Environment Scale.The updated version of the Torturing Environment Scale (TES 2.0)Scoring and interpretation of resultsSteps to score the TESThe Torturing Environment Scale – Community version (TES C -)Chapter 6Assessment of particular conditions within a Torturing Environment – Quick Reference Cards.Quick Reference Card 0. A summary of a summaryQuick Reference Card 1. Roadmap of a Torturing Environment StudyQuick Reference Card 2. Security of Survivors and Witnesses.1. Risk Assessment. Elements to consider.2. Security Plan for a Threatened Person in Prison3. Security plan for threats in non-detention settings4. Psychological support of a person under threat.Quick Reference Card 3. Securing dataQuick Reference Card 4 – Ethical Standards of InterviewingQuick Reference Card 5. Conducting a Trauma-Informed Interview on Sensitive Matters.Quick Reference Card 6. First Evidence Interview ModelQuick Reference Card 7. Dealing with Critical EmotionsQuick Reference Card 8. Checklist of Legal safeguards before and during detentionQuick Reference Card 9. Minimum Standards of Detention when Assessing Torturing EnvironmentsQuick Reference Card 10. Checklist of Elements to Explore Related to Psychological Torture in a Monitoring Visit to a Short-Term or Long-Term Detention Facility.Quick Reference Card 11. Documenting Solitary ConfinementQuick Reference Card 12. Documenting Sleep DeprivationQuick Reference Card 13. Documenting Threats and Fear producing conditionsQuick Reference Card 14. Documenting actions Targeting the Sense of ControlQuick Reference Card 15. Documenting Actions Targeting Identity, Dignity and Attacks on the Self.Quick Reference Card 16. Gathering Information on Gender and Sexual Related ViolenceQuick reference Card 17. Assessing Coercive Interrogation as part of a Torturing EnvironmentQuick Reference Card 18. Consistency Analysis.Quick reference Card 19. Checklist of Main Community Impacts.Chapter 7Concluding RemarksAnnex 1. Comparison between TES 1.0 and TES2.0ReferencesLegal referencesIndex