10. Possible sentence: (Maximum/Minimum)

11. Attorney (Include name, mailing address, and telephone number.) 12. Next-of-kin: (Name, mailing address, and relationship.)

13. Notification: (Indicate if arrestee authorizes notification of next-of-kin or other designee. If yes, indicate if Department is requested to make notification or if notification was accomplished by post. If by post, state method (phone, letter, etc.) and date. In cases of minors, or arrestees not capable of making sound mental judgments, post should seek opinion and assistance of Department.)

14. Has consular access been obtained? If yes, clearly state date and method (phone, personal visit, letter, etc.). If no, state reason and give date when access anticipated.

15. Names of other Americans arrested in same case: (Give names for cross reference purposes only. Separate arrest reports must be submitted on each individual cited.)

16. Any evidence or claim of mistreatment or denial of human rights: (Give Yes or No answer in each case. If Yes, indicate evidence to support claim and what remedial action post is taking.)

17. Remarks: (Provide whatever additional information and comments post thinks warranted and useful concerning the circumstances of the arrest and welfare of the arrestee, etc. Post can also include in this section names of persons to whom the arrestee authorizes release of information under the provisions of the Privacy Act.)

Follow-up Reporting

Posts should keep the Department abreast of any new developments in a case and should report telegraphically any change in any item of the initial arrest report. When the post learns that an individual has been sentenced or released, the information should be immediately sent to the Department. Reports of fines should be given in both local currency and U.S. dollars. Reports of release should include date of release and conditions (provisional, unconditional, completion of sentence, etc.).

In submitting follow-up reports, posts can use an abbreviated format of the initial arrest report by referring to item number and report change.

It is essential that a citizen in pre-trial confinement be visited regularly by the consular officer. Each post should formalize a regular visitation schedule to each prisoner in acccordance with conditions prevailing in the consular district.

Monthly Visits

It is expected that in most cases visits will be on a monthly basis unless otherwise justified. Posts should be alert, however, to the necessity for more frequent visitation where conditions of incarceration require it. In any case where a post believes that visits less frequent than once a month are justified by local conditions, the consular officer must obtain Department concurrence. Report

All posts should submit a brief report to the Department on each visit. Visiting consular officers should make adequate notes of prisoner interviews for inclusion in the post's file on each individual case.

Purpose

The purposes of regular visitation are primarily :

A. To check on the treatment which the prisoner is receiving and to monitor the state of health and well-being.

B. To follow the progress of the case in the judicial process and, where necessary and requested, act as liaison between the prisoner and his lawyer, the court, and the prosecutor.

C. To enable the consular officer to determine what minor services may be provided to the citizen to enable him to maintain reasonable morale. This may include, but is not necessarily limited to, such minor everyday items as buying

postage stamps, soap, etc., which can become major problems for the citizen who is incarcerated.

D. By being familiar with the current status of the citizen's case and wellbeing, the consular officer is in a position to provide, on a timely basis, responsive replies to inquiries received from the Department, the prisoner's family and friends, and Members of the Congress.

Funds

Where local conditions make it necessary, the consular officer should be prepared to receive money on behalf of the prisoner under SCS/TRUST procedure as set forth in 7 FAM 370. See Appendix for sample cable.

Amounts

The amounts transmitted will ordinarily be small, i.e., amounts suitable for prisoners supplemental living expenses. From time to time, however, it may be necessary for the prisoner to receive relatively larger amounts for legal fees, etc.

Illegal Use

Under no circumstances should the consular officer allow himself to be drawn into any scheme involving bribery or other illegal use of funds.

The Case Worker Concept

If possible, the same consular officer should visit the same prisoner regularly. There are several advantages to such a "case worker" approach. The consular officer thus becomes thoroughly familiar with the specific facts and special problems of the prisoner's situation. This should enable the officer to become responsive in the maximum degree to the prisoner's need not only for small services, but, more importantly, in liaison with attorneys, court officials, and prosecutors. Furthermore, the officer will be able to respond promptly and competently to requests for information from the Department, etc. Few things are more discouraging to a prisoner than to detail an urgent need to the visiting consular officer only to have a different consular officer on the next visit disclaim all knowledge of the matter. The "case worker" principle will also assist each post to estimate the number of man-hours necessary to conduct its regular prisoner visiting schedule.

Attendance

NOTES
CHAPTER 3
TRIAL

Each post should determine, on the basis of local judicial procedures and other influencing factors, whether it is necessary or desirable for a consular officer to attend the trial of a citizen prisoner. The main purpose of such attendance is to insure that the U.S. citizen is not discriminated against, either in procedure or sentence, on the basis of U.S. nationality. Whenever a post believes that such discrimination might occur, it is essential that a consular officer attend the trial.

Attendance by Local Employee

While it may be helpful in some cases to have a FSL [Foreign Service local] employee attend the trial along with the consular officer to translate or explain local procedure, the local employee's attendance cannot substitute for the consular officer.

Discrimination Protests

Whenever it is determined that an American citizen has been discriminated against, it should be brought to the immediate attention of the highest levels of the Mission and reported promptly to the Department indicating what action is proposed or has been taken to protest the discrimination.

Requests by Defendant or Family

Even though the post determines that discrimination is unlikely, every reasonable effort should be made to comply with requests by defendants and their families for trial attendance by a consular officer.

Reporting

The post should promptly report the sentence received by a convicted U.S. national to the Department. If incarceration after sentencing will be in a different institution, the change should be reported to the Department. If, in this or any other circumstance, a prisoner is moved to a different consular district, the post's file should be transferred and the Department notified.

Appeals

Whenever a convicted U.S. national has an appeal pending before the courts, the consular officer should continue to be available to perform the liaison services with the prisoner's lawyer, judicial authorities, etc.

The principles of regular visitation and the "case worker" organization of workload described in Chapter 2 become more important as the prisoner serves the imposed sentence. Posts should maintain a monthly schedule of visits as set forth in Chapter 2.

Reporting

The post should also maintain the same record of visits as described earlier, and continue to report such visits to the Department.

Concepts of Rehabilitation

It must be borne in mind that most U.S. citizen prisoners will return, in time, to a free society, most often to the United States. Their adjustment to society, hence their subsequent social or anti-social behavior, will depend in large measure on the concepts they carry with them from their relationships with society and authority during their period of imprisonment.

Many foreign penal systems are well equipped to return U.S. nationals to their own society as rehabilitated individuals. Others, while having the capacity to rehabilitate members of their own society, are inadequate, due to different cultural mores and needs, to rehabilitate the U.S. national. Still others, unfortunately, are not essentially geared to rehabilitation at all. Such conditions may be countrywide or they may vary radically from one penal institution to another within a country. Moreover, rehabilitation may not be the issue at all in some cases. Persons who do not suffer from any form of social maladjustment are often subject to imprisonment, either as a result of error on the part of authorities or because of the commission of such offenses as destructive automobile accidents, etc. The same may well be true of Americans convicted abroad of “political offenses," real or imagined, which would not be considered criminal in the United States.

Consular Officer Responsibilities

The consular officer obviously cannot carry the primary responsibility for a prisoner's rehabilitation or a healthy social attitude. Nonetheless, a consular officer, as a symbolic and functional representative of an organized society, and particularly of the U.S. Government, can have some significant impact on the prisoner's attitudes toward these entities. The consular officer's friendly, compassionate attitude and willingness to perform services on behalf of the prisoner's morale, comfort, and health can contribute greatly to the prisoner's continued or regained social adaptation.

Health

There are a number of things the consular officer can do to help a prisoner maintain adequate health during the period of incarceration.

Nutrition

Many penal systems do not, for various reasons, provide an adequate nutritional diet to maintain a prisoner in a reasonable state of health. In these circumstances, the consular officer should pay careful attention to the state of the prisoner's health. It may be possible to persuade the responsible local authorities to improve prisoner diet.

A. Outside Sources. Dietary supplements can often be arranged through the solicitation of contributions of vitamins and minerals from locally represented American pharmaceutical companies, donations of food by the local American community, or other contributions.

B. Financial Resources. The handling of trust funds consisting of money sent by prisoner's families may be a vital factor in maintaining adequate nutrition. The consular officer may also be able to arrange for employment within the prison which would enable the U.S. national to purchase supplemental food items.

Medical and Dental Care

The provision of adequate medical and dental care is a recognized and essential responsibility of the imprisoning authority. However, national standards of medical and dental care vary greatly from country to country. A level of medical care which is high by local standards may be woefully inadequate by the standards of our society. Furthermore, the prison system may not enjoy a standard of medical and dental facilities commensurate with the normal standards available within the host country.

A. Outside Resources. While the consular officer must make every effort to pursuade the imprisoning authorities to fulfill their medical responsibilities, it must be recognized that in many cases other resources must be utilized. Needless to say, the first outside resource to be tapped, if available, will be the prisoner's family and friends, who may be able to provide funds for employment of private practitioners if such are allowed by the local authorities. The local American community, if any, may also be a source of help. B. Unavailability of Funds. Since there are no U.S. Government funds obligated, posts may have to be extremely resourceful and imaginative in solving this serious problem. Unfortunately, in some cases, it cannot be solved. Such failure should not, however, be the result of inattention to the problem on the part of any post.

Morale

Since many of the U.S. nationals imprisoned abroad are first-time offenders and others may be serving their first time in prison, the consular officer will often find that prisoners suffer severe emotional reactions to incarceration. Even those with previous U.S. prison experience may well exhibit severe morale problems as a result of the alien cultural environment in which they find themselves. While it is obviously well beyond the ability of the consular officer to eliminate or even moderate the basic causes of this reaction, there are a number of actions which may be taken to reduce their adverse effect on the prisoner.

Reading Materials

The availability of English language reading material (especially of American origin) such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc., can often go a long way to easing the problems of confinement in an alien society. The local American community, if any, may be persuaded to supply prisoners such reading material, as well as athletic equipment, games, etc.

Holiday Meals

The local American community may also be willing to provide typical American holiday meals on appropriate occasions if local prison authorities permit. Special Family Visits

The consular officer may often arrange for special permission for visits to prisoners by family members who have either arrived on other than normal visiting days or whose ability to visit the place of confinement is limited.

Providing Personal Amenities

As with prisoners in pre-trial confinement, everyday items such as postage stamps, toiletries, stationery, etc., where permitted by prison authorities, may be purchased out of prisoners' funds by the consular officer.

Prisoner Employment

In many penal systems, remunerative work is available to some or all prisoners. Such work may also count for reduction of sentence. Consular officers

should take an active interest in prisoners' attempts to obtain such work; in prisons where the opportunities exist but are limited, the consular officer's expression of interest may make the difference in having such work made available.

Correspondence Courses

Correspondence courses can do much to alleviate the boredom and depression common to a prison experience. Consular officers should be ready to assist prisoners in arranging for correspondence courses, proctoring examinations, and other such facilitating services.

Personal Conversation

While considering the various specific and individual services that a consular officer can peform, the post must not overlook the psychological lift a prisoner can derive just from the consular officer's visit. The expression of interest of another human being and the opportunity for conversation from someone from "outside the walls" can be an important morale-building event in a prisoner's otherwise dull existence.

Contacts With Family and Other Interested Parties

The consular officer should answer promptly and as responsively as possible all inquiries received from a prisoner's next-of-kin, Members of Congress, the Department, etc. At the request of the prisoner, the consular officer may write directly to NOK [next-of-kin] to advise them of a prisoner's need or to assure them of the prisoner's well-being.

Prisoners Who Do Not Wish To Be Visited

Prisoners who do not wish to see a consular officer should generally have their wishes respected. However, before noting in the records of the case that a prisoner has expressed such a desire, the consular officer should get that information directly from the prisoner, if possible. After ascertaining to the officer's satisfaction that a prisoner really does not wish to be visited, the consular officer should report that fact to the Department. If subsequent events indicate that the prisoner has changed this decision, or that overriding considerations may make an interview necessary, the consular officer should not hesitate to ask to see the prisoner. When visiting a prison in which one or more American prisoners have requested that they not be visited, the consular officer should, nevertheless, inquire about those prisoners' well-being, and annotate the files and report to the Department accordingly.

NOTES

CHAPTER 5

THE DEATH OF A PRISONER

Whenever a U.S. national prisoner dies, the post should notify NOK, etc., by telegram and follow the normal procedures as set forth in 7 FAM 440. (Also see Airgram A-1597 dated 3/19/76.) Additionally, the death of any American while in custody abroad must be promptly reported to the Department by separate cable giving as many of the pertinent details as are available. Unless it is clear that the medically determined cause of death obviates the possibility that death resulted from mistreatment or negligence on the part of the local authorities, the post should comment in its report to the Department whether or not this factor appears to exist. If there is reasonable suspicion that death may have resulted from mistreatment or negligence, the post should immediately request the host government to undertake a full investigation of the cause of death, including proper post mortem if such is not routine. It must be noted, however, that there are no U.S.G. [United States Government] funds to pay for such post mortem examination. Posts facing this problem should not hesitate to seek the Department's advice and guidance.