Torture, as structural violence, can be inflicted slowly, routinely, and undramatically. It implicates, instrumentalizes, and entangles both individual
and institutional agents, and must be viewed as emerging from a complex
apparatus responsible for its instigation and infliction. Failing this, we fail
to attend to torture’s totality, particularly for the purposes of its socio-legal
analysis. Leaving directness or explicitness of torturous acts of the individual
behind (although equally important), a focus on the insidious and structural
is warranted. This requires looking beyond individual and toward institutional logics, thus turning to systemic and systematic aspects. This article will
discuss the implications emerging from such doctrinal individual centricity,
as epitomized by the element of intentionality, a constitutive element of
torture under Article 1 of the UN Convention against Torture. Then, it will
endeavor to shift perspective from perpetrating individuals to perpetrating
institutions, taking the denial of health care in Egyptian prisons as a case
study through which to illustrate these dynamics.