must be called in, if necessary.
If there is a clear indication of mental impairment on the medical history sheet or in the
detention log, a psychiatrist must be called in.
Police physicians must have access to psychiatric expertise at all times, regardless of the
day of the week and the time of day.
It is necessary to develop criteria for the provision of adequate health care to inebriated,
substance-impaired, mentally ill persons and persons who are a danger to themselves.
Transfer to specialised clinics rather than placement into specially secured cells is medically
necessary.
Before ending detention, police physicians should inform persons found to be unfit to
undergo detention of any additional medical measures and possibilities.
2.6.2.4.
Partitioning of the toilet areas in cells for multiple inmates
In the last reporting year, the NPM focused on the inadequate
partitioning of toilet areas in cells for multiple inmates (see NPM Report
2014, pp. 123 et seq.).
The Human Rights Advisory Council made a report on 16 June 2015 on
the question of the structural partitioning of toilet facilities in police
department inmate cells. According to that report, the human rights
impact depends, in particular, on the duration of the detention. In the
opinion of the Human Rights Advisory Council, the same standards as
in correctional institutions should be sought if multiple persons are
held in the same cell for a lengthy period of time. Applied to long-term
detention in police detention centres, this means that inmate cells that
house more than one person must have a structurally partitioned toilet
area (see also CPT standards p. 18, margin no. 49; Finland Report of 11
May 1999, paragraphs 72 and 73). If a person is placed into a single
cell for a lengthy period of time, a visual barrier (e.g. curtain) should be
provided at the request of the affected person, unless otherwise
required in the individual case – for example, for reasons of suicide
prevention (see Item 2.6.5.2 regarding sanitary facilities in inmate cells
during short-term detention).
Expertise of the Human
Rights Advisory Council
The structural defects in the toilet areas of cells for multiple inmates at
the Salzburg and Steyr police detention centres constitute a (potential)
invasion of privacy for the affected persons and were therefore the
subject of a complaint by the NPM. Toilets in cells occupied by multiple
inmates must be walled in on all sides. Contrary to the case of the Linz
police detention centre, the Federal Ministry of the Interior did not
promise to refrain from placing multiple inmates in the cells at the
Salzburg and Steyr police detention centres until they had been
structurally adapted.
Criticism of structural
defects
With respect to the Graz police detention centre as well, the NPM
repeatedly criticised that the toilets in cells for multiple inmates were
only partitioned from the rest of the cell by doors that were not fully
closed off. However, it was noted as a positive step in the past
reporting year that the Federal Ministry of the Interior had obtained
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