...but everywhere lives in chains?

Abstract

The prisoner looked lethargic and listless. Manacled to one of a trio of prison officers, he hardly raised his head when I poked mine through the curtains of the cubicle in the Emergency Department. The patient but fatigued cluster of trainees was in the periphery of my vision, silently willing me to hurry up with post-take ward-round, and not dwell overly on the young man with new onset jaundice. A polite request to the prison officers to step outside was met with hostile body language and an abrupt refusal. A brief inquiry established that the patient was a first-time remand prisoner with no history of violence or attempting to abscond. Although assessment of the patient would entail sensitive life-style questions, the monosyllabic replies quickly established that the prisoner officers had little time for such niceties. Still, a little early to telephone the prison Governor to negotiate further, I continued with the ward round, aiming to revisit the situation after giving some time for all parties to reflect on the situation. As I returned to the Emergency Room, one of the prison officers was waiting outside the cubicle to greet me. ‘He’s happy to see you with us in the room, Doc’, he said. The lightness of his tone contrasted with that of the even more cowed prisoner who failed to meet my gaze as I entered and muttered in a low monotone: ‘It’s alright, Doc’. Uncertain that this constituted a valid consent, I let the team off to their well-deserved toast and coffee in the doctor’s residence and telephoned the Governor. A short conversation with an Acting-Governor was abrupt and to the point: the manacles would stay on and a prison officer would stay in the room. No clarification was offered as to the grounds for denying the right to …