Police detention centres 2.6.5 Deficits at Vordernberg detention centre The NPM found numerous deficiencies when it visited Vordernberg detention centre in July 2016. As already stated in the NPM Report 2016 (p. 145 et seq.), the NPM confronted the Federal Ministry of the Interior with the deficiencies it found. The Federal Ministry required over six months to respond despite regular reminders from the NPM. Since the response had not been received, the planned follow-up visit to the detention centre was delayed. Deficiencies still exist The Federal Ministry of the Interior could not rebut all the NPM’s points of criticism. One such criticism related to holding a detainee in a specially secured cell: the Federal Ministry justified this measure by the risk that the detainee would abscond but denied that there was any risk of self-inflicted injury. The NPM referred the Federal Ministry to the requirements for such measures under Section 5b (2) (4) of the Detention Regulation (Anhalteordnung). In another statement, the Federal Ministry conceded that it lacked a more benign option for holding the prisoner in secure detention in May 2016. The primary concern was that the doors of normal single cells were not sufficiently escape-proof. The Federal Ministry of the Interior promised improvements to eliminate the deficiencies. The Federal Ministry intends to expand the very limited employment opportunities and change daily structure. In addition, the Federal Ministry announced the introduction of electronic patient documentation. Moreover, the Ministry said that an expansion of the outpatient areas was planned, so it would be possible to administer medications in the living areas. However, the Federal Ministry saw no need to allocate greater space in which to hold repatriation counselling sessions. It justified this by stating that these sessions took place in the living area. Follow-up visit in September 2017 The commission visited the detention centre again in September 2017 to verify that the announced measures had been implemented. It determined that neither daily structure nor employment opportunities had improved. The commission again determined that there was a need for more space to hold repatriation counselling sessions. It was found that the visiting room of the detention centre is being used for these counselling sessions. Therefore, the room cannot be used for visits from relatives at these times. The spatial concept in the outpatient area of the detention centre and the medical and psychiatric care of prisoners were again problematical. The qualified nursing staff still seemed to be working under intense time pressure and had deficits in the knowledge of foreign languages. Contrary to the announcement of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, electronic patient documentation had not been established in the outpatient clinic. As with the last visit, there were qualitative deficiencies with respect to medical treatment. This primarily related to the administration of unsuitable compounds to substance-impaired (opioid-dependent) persons or the temporary discontinuation of medications. 154