Correctional institutions the officers it became evident that the collaboration and communication between the individual professional groups could be improved. The individual interviews in particular demonstrated differing perceptions and assessments on several issues whereby most of the differences of opinion were between the psychological service on the one hand and social work service and prison guards on the other. Differing levels of information The NPM therefore recommended improving the exchange between the special services and the prison. Suicide prevention should be on the agenda of team meetings at least once a month. In this way, misunderstandings and incorrect information can be clarified more easily. The visiting team also enquired about the so-called listeners. They are prisoners who are available as a contact person to a mentally unstable inmate and who listen to them if required. These persons require intensive training and support. Thanks to these listeners, many suicides (attempts) could already be prevented. Only the psychological service knew which detainees are deployed as listeners at Korneuburg correctional institution. The commissions did not get any information about the criteria that these listeners have to fulfil. Assessment not traceable Furthermore, the attention of the visiting team was drawn to an inmate whose classification within the VISCI (Viennese Instrument for Suicidality in Correctional Institutions) was changed from “red” to “yellow” without documenting who had performed this change. Detainees are assessed according to VISCI criteria after arrival at a correctional institution in order to prevent suicides. The classification is made using a traffic light system (green, yellow, red). The VISCI classification is “red” if a detainee is suicidal. The NPM recommended familiarising all employees with the VISCI classification and ensuring that the mechanism is understood. The Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice responded that all prison officers are trained and are able to trace the classification procedures by looking at the documentation. The ministry also said that potential candidates to act as listeners can be detected by an electronic query if required. Furthermore, the Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice points out that the different professional groups at Korneuburg correctional institution have a good communication structure. The professional groups exchange information both in the weekly specialist and department team meetings as well as on a daily basis in the individual departments. Communication structure can be improved 111 In this context, the NPM reiterates that there was no consensus on the criteria for a listener between the professional groups on the day of the visit. It was also – as the observations in another correctional institution (Sonnberg) showed – not an isolated case that it was not possible to establish who had changed a VISCI classification. Against this background, an evaluation of the

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