Adaptation of the Istanbul protocol to the processes of evaluation of detainees in the Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences

Abstract

In 2017, the Technical Scientific Committee of the Forensic Medical Council drafted the “Work guide for medical-forensic assistance to people in prison,” whose objective was to serve as the basis for the development of a new national Protocol of recognition of detainees, in order to update the existing one published in 1997. In 2022, the publication of the new Istanbul protocol for effective investigation and documentation of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment made it advisable to review the protocols for forensic medical performance in Spain. The Technical Scientific Committee has developed a new protocol of action in the Institutes of legal medicine and forensic sciences of Spain with detainees in accordance with the most recent recommendations that will be published throughout the year 2023.