FACTSHEET • What policies are in place for searches of social workers, lawyers and doctors? • Are searches applied to staff? Are these clearly prescribed in law, and compliant with the standards described above? 4. What can monitoring bodies do? Body searches are an example of a measure that, while legitimate under certain circumstances, can constitute ill-treatment or even torture in others. By examining and analysing policies and practices on searches, monitors can address a systemic issue prone to abuse.58 Monitoring bodies, including National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs), can play an essential role in enquiring into the reasons, conditions and modalities of the use of body searches in detention, and in analysing their necessity and proportionality, as well as the way in which they are conducted. Through their observation of admission procedures, examination of registers (in particular registers of incidents and of disciplinary sanctions), interviews in private with detainees, staff and medical personnel, as well as with visitors (in particular relatives), monitoring bodies can assess whether body searches are legitimate and adequate security measures or give reason for concern at a systemic level. Even where a regulatory framework of general application is in place, practices may vary significantly from one institution to another, either legitimised by the nature of the place of detention and differing security considerations, or arbitrarily. Monitoring bodies therefore need to understand the context of the institution, and take into consideration the message sent by senior management regarding security procedures. By comparing procedures and practices in different places of detention, monitoring bodies may identify abusive search regimes as well as good practices, which can feed into their recommendations relating to the national regulatory framework. Monitoring bodies may also consider producing a thematic report on the use of body searches.59 The role of staff is essential in ensuring that body searches are conducted in a way that respects the dignity of detainees, visitors and staff. International standards underline the importance of ‘competence, professionalism and sensitivity’,60 and monitoring bodies should address this in their recommendations, for example highlighting the need for staff to be trained to approach searches with sensitivity, in particular when dealing with detainees in situations of vulnerability. Monitoring bodies also need to look at the broader context and the domestic legal framework. It is important to analyse whether the use of body searches is regulated at the legislative level, only at the level of decrees or circulars, or not at all. Where the legal framework is inadequate, monitoring bodies should recommend the introduction or revision of respective laws or regulations. 58. See PRI/APT, Balancing security and dignity in prison: a framework for preventive monitoring, 2nd edition, 2015. 59. See, for example, the 2011 annual report of the French NPM, p238 to 256 (in French). Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté, Rapport annuel d’activité 2011. Available at: http://www.cglpl.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CGLPL_rapport-2011_texte.pdf <accessed 23 October 2013>. 60. Rule 21 of the UN Bangkok Rules. Penal Reform International | Body searches: Addressing risk factors to prevent torture and ill-treatment |9