violation of human rights
RIGHT TO HEALTH ASSISTANCE

This policy of dispersal rescinds proper health assistance for the prisoners. This harsh reality can be summarised like this:

- Lack of health assistance: Lack of interest coming from the medical staff. Very often it is professional negligence. Inhuman treatments in the surgery. At the gynaecologic check-ups for instance, the patients' rights are not respected, since their right to intimacy and confidentiality is violated. Lack of prevention to avoid risks of infections and lack of protocol to avoid contagion. When the prisoners are transferred from prison to prison, their patient's records, which are necessary to diagnostic an illness, get lost. Specialists don't share information and as a consequence, diagnosis which can potentially be malignant, are delayed.

- Limited assistance with reliable professionals: Obstacles and refusal when applying the rights, even though it is established in the prison legislation (art 36.3 General Prison Organic Law and art 212.3 of the prison regulation). The reliable doctors must advance the day and time for the appointment, but lately these appointments are being turned down. (according to the law not even the time of the interview can be limited). Likewise, appointments have been denied from the special court of penitentiary surveillance, centralised in Madrid.

- Little cooperation between the medical-staff of the prison and doctors from the outside. When the reliable doctor is not allowed to visit the patient, he or she tries to get in touch with the doctor in prison or with the hospital in order to monitor the patient and his or her treatment. This attempts have usually become useless and the prisoner cannot contrast the treatment. In this sense it is important to mention the obstructionist role the "Treatment Board" -formed by a doctor, psychologist, teachers and security staff- plays.

- The difficult monitoring of pathologies. As a consequence of the geographic distance and their attempt to make the situation even more difficult (since sometimes permitted visits are later cancelled) the reliable Doctors get in touch with the medical staff by phone and with our relative prisoners by mail. Thus, to be able to monitor those patients with mental problems, becomes a real professional challenge.

- Restriction on the Art. 92. The professional doctors have often requested that prisoners with serious illnesses or incurable diseases should be treated outside the prison. These requests, not paying attention to the law itself (which says that sick prisoners must be released) are not taken into consideration.

In this section we will emphasise the situation of three Basque political prisoners:

Jon Agirre Agiriano:
Next May it will be 25 years since the Spanish state imprisoned the 63 year-old man from Aramaio. For all this years they have held him under the first grade. He was placed in a solitary confinement for ten years, which means that he has been locked in a small cell for at least 21 hours a day. As a consequence both his hips, lumbar vertebra and slipped disk are debilitated. He also suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.

In 1998 he started with pains and instead of been taken to hospital for a checking he was left in the waiting list. Meanwhile he was transferred from prison to prison and every time further from the Basque Country. Jon Agirre remained at the infirmary in the prison in Malaga for more than four months. Due to the pain he was suffering he was forced to stay in bed the whole day. He asked for a pair of crutch but he was never provided any, it wasn?t until an ordinary prisoners gave him a pair that he could start walking. He was also unable to attend the visits since he could not go down the stairs. In fact, to go to the phoning booth he requested to be helped by other prisoners; to have the ordinary visit at the face-to-face rooms or convert visits into phone calls, but all theses demands were denied. He also asked for a medical test but all this was also denied. Finally on February 10th , 2005 he was transferred from Malaga to the prison in Logroño. On April 6th he was taken to hospital in Donostia. The following week he underwent which was satisfactory. On May 6th he was again transferred to the infirmary in the prison in Langraitz and it is from there that he is taken to the hospital in Donostia.

Due to his illness on July 2005 he requested the application of the article 92 but the released was denied (among other things, because he is under the 1st grade). On October 28th he will have finished serving the sentence. He has served the 3/4 of the sentence since 1996, that is 9 years ago.

Juan Jose Rego Vidal:
This 66 year-old Basque political prisoner from Intxaurrondo has been imprisoned in the prison in Mansilla, 430 Kilometers from the Basque Country since September 1999. He was arrested on August 9th, 1995, imprisoned three days later in Madrid, Soto del Real, transferred later to Navalcarnero and to Alcala Meco un and finally to the prison of Mansilla. He also suffers from diabetes and hypertension. He suffers from hypoglycaemia. He undergoes cataracts lose of vision on the left eye, he is partly deprived of hearing.

Not enough on November 14th, 2005, one of his legs got paralysed and he was blinded for some minutes. Half an hour later he still had not been taken to the infirmary. After nearly an hour his son Iñaki Rego who is with him, requested the presence of the security head. It wasn?t until Juan Jose showed his intention of starting a hunger strike, that he was taken to the infirmary. He was told that it could be a virus or breast angina and so he was allowed to go to the hospital. He was constantly surrounded by six policemen. After some difficulties he suffered thrombosis and got an injection to cut the obstruction.

He was again transferred to the prison. Due to his debilitated health, on January 18th, 2004 he requested to be taken to a prison in the Basque Country. The answer was that the circumstances were not enough for a transfer. Two months later he demanded the same, but this time at the Audiencia Nacional, and the answer again was that this issue was out of his competence. In November, 2005 the suspension of the sentence and the released was requested. So far, there has not been any answer.

Angel Alkalde
He was arrested last year on February 12th, and imprisoned in Soto del Real. Before being arrested he had already an appointment arranged for a surgery, so he was transferred to Langraitz. He suffers from both hips and even then, before being transferred to Langraitz, he was held for seven hours in a cell in Soto del Real bent and with handcuffs tied to his back. During this seven hours he was constantly being insulted by the Guardia Civil. From there, he was transferred to Valdemoro, then to Burgos and finally to Langraitz. In Cruces hospital he had a surgery on his hip, but immediately after he was again transferred to Madrid. In Cruces to do the rehabilitation control in August he was again transferred to Langraitz. In October again to Navalcarneo. He missed the check-up in November in Cruces being transferred to Alcala Meco. So the appointment was delayed until December, but it was also left down. Finally he was transferred to Langraitz from Alcala Meco being a hard journey since he was constantly being insulted by the Guardia Civil. On January 8th he suffered a syncope and lost consciousness in the cell in Langraitz. He woke up himself and got up. He told this to other Basque political prisoners who informed the doctor about it and so he was taken to Txagorritxu hospital in Gasteiz. Yet when waiting for the ambulance to arrive he had to suffer a provocative conversation which the Ertzainas held. The test in Txagorritxu hospital showed problems with the aortic valve which demanded a surgery. That is a valve transplant which coudn?t wait and so it needed to undergo within a mouth, in Gurutzeta hospital in Barakaldo or in Basurto. According to the doctors in Txagorritxu, Angel Alcalde needs to keep total rest and always be under proper condition or control. Angel Alcalde was transferred from Txagorritxu to a normal module in Langraitz yesterday, January 16th. On the 11th he had a test on the catheter. While he was in hospital he was allowed to have a 45 minute-visit a week (Tuesday, Thursday and weekend). When this test on January 11th, was carried out his daughter requested the communication to the security head and the deputy director in Langraitz prison. The answer was affirmative. Angel Alcain?s daughter went to hospital for a visit, but the Ertzaintza there, not only did not allowed her to visit him, but she wasn?t even allowed to greet him through the window. The Ertzaintza has also obstruct his phone communication. For instance on January 9th when talking to his daughter, after 2 minutes the Ertzaintza cut the line, when the allowed time in jail is 5 minutes. His closer lawyers are about to request his temporary release in the next few days.