Totalność więzienia a prawo skazanych do odpowiedniego standardu opieki zdrowotnej
The Totality of Prison versus the Right of Convicts to an Adequate Standard of Health Care

Summary/Abstract: The precise number of individuals held in solitary confinement in penitentiaries worldwide remains unknown. Available figures are necessarily based on estimates, according to which the global prison population amounts to approximately eleven million persons; however, the actual number may be higher. This discrepancy may result from either the deliberate underreporting of data by the states concerned or from the absence of reliable and comprehensive statistical records, which is often attributed to the use of incompatible data-collection systems that aggregate information at different levels (local or regional) without adequate integration. Penitentiary isolation, therefore, affects millions of prisoners across the globe who are confined in total institutions, characterized by formal and informal interpersonal relations as well as distinct spheres of influence. One of the most fundamental interests of incarcerated persons is their health. It determines not only survival but also their ability to function in prison. The study undertakes a doctrinal analysis of the state’s obligations toward inmates in penitentiary facilities with regard to ensuring the protection of their health, understood as a conditio sine qua non for the effective realization of the objectives of custodial sentences. While the health protection offered in prison matches the average standard outside, it seems insufficient considering the ‘totality’ of penitentiary institutions. This means the state controls and is responsible for every part of an prisoner’s life, including health.

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