3. INCIDENT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? 42 The use of force and arms may be necessary in exceptional circumstances. However, it presents a high risk of injury and may result in fatalities, especially if directed against individuals with specific health conditions. Some arms are also likely to cause pain and humiliation. Sometimes they are deliberately misused to hurt or intimidate prisoners, while others have been found to have no use other than to inflict torture or other ill‑treatment. 43 If the use of force and arms is not properly regulated it is likely to be used indiscriminately and when not strictly necessary. Lack of proper regulation can lead to a culture of fear and distrust emerging between prisoners and staff. Where prison rules are vague with regard to the use of force and where arms are readily available, there is a tendency to overuse them without first considering alternative means of control, even though they can be more effective in both the short- and long-term. 44 Although staff may sometimes need to resort to force or arms for their own safety, it is important to recognize that the use of force or arms can also endanger staff, since it may escalate a violent situation further. As noted in a 2010 UN survey, “[e]xcessive security and control can, at its worst, lead to a sense of injustice and increase the risk of a breakdown of control and of violent or abusive behaviour”.193 3 PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE 88 Prohibitions on the use of force and arms 45 Prisons should be free from any equipment intended to be used for inflicting torture or ill‑treatment.194 46 Arms that should never be used include spiked batons, truncheons made of metal or other implements having a shaft with metal spikes and spiked shields, which have been deemed to have “no practical use other than for (...) the purpose of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,”195 and body worn electric shock equipment. Similarly, whips comprising multiple lashes or thongs and whips having one or more lashes or thongs fitted with barbs, hooks, spikes, metal wire or similar objects enhancing the impact of the lash or thong have been deemed unsuitable for use by law enforcement authorities and exports of these products have been prohibited within the EU.196 47 Force or arms must never be used for the purpose of inflicting pain. When can force and arms be used? 48 Force must only be used as a measure of last resort, in accordance with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality. Its use is only justified in exceptional circumstances “when strictly necessary for the maintenance of security and order within the institution, or when personal safety is threatened”.197 49 Basic Principle 16 of the BPUFF states that firearms should not be used against people except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life or to prevent the escape of a person presenting such a danger. Firearms should only be used when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, firearms may only be used with lethal intent when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life 193. Workshop 2: Survey of United Nations and other best practices in the treatment of prisoners in the criminal justice system: Background Paper, Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 28 January 2010, 6A/CONF.213/13, para. 45. 194. United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20: Prohibition of Torture, or Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (article 7 ICCPR), op. cit., note 18, para. 11; Resource Book on Use of force and Firearms, OHCHR/UNODC, op. cit., note 131, p. 145. 195. Regulation No 775/2014, European Union, op. cit., note 168, para. 1 and Annex II, para. 3. 196. Ibid, Annex II, para. 4. 197. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, op. cit., note 158, Basic Principle 15. Guidance document on the Nelson Mandela Rules