Police agencies
Conditions in police
detention centres
From the beginning of their activities until the end of the year, the
Commissions conducted 39 visits to police agencies. The majority of
the visits was to police stations and police detention centres. Police detention centres are prisons where primarily detainees awaiting forced
returns and prisoners serving an administrative penalty are being
held. The conditions in these police detention centres were always subject of criticism by NGOs and by the former Human Rights Advisory
Council. The AOB Commissions also found that these confinement
conditions often had structural problems, which applied, for example, to the practice of day release, inadequate work and occupational
opportunities, questions regarding health care, supervision of highsecurity cells and access to information and legal advice. Training
and supervision of the personnel was also an important issue for the
previous Human Rights Advisory Council.
The AOB evaluated the Commissions’ reports received thus far and has
initiated comprehensive investigative proceedings. The objective is
to develop framework conditions for confinement in police detention centres that is consistent with national and international human rights standards. Recommendations will be made to the Federal
Ministry of the Interior based on these findings. The AOB also sees
room for improvement in the detention regulations that govern the
conditions in police detention centres.
Access to medical
records
During their visits to police detention centres, several Commissions
were not allowed to access or given only limited access to the medical
records of the detainees by the management of the detention centre.
Therefore, one of the Commissions was not able to view the medical
records of a detainee on hunger strike until he had provided his consent. In other cases, the Commissions were given access to medical records of detained persons or persons awaiting forced returns; however,
they were prohibited from making copies of the documents or from
subsequently transmitting documents.
Thereupon, the AOB contacted the Federal Ministry of the Interior to
find a solution that ensures comprehensive access to medical records
by the Commissions. At the time of the editorial deadline of this report, a result had not yet been achieved in this regard.
Protection of victims of
human trafficking
During an investigation in the police detention centre Klagenfurt
(Carinthia), the suspicion arose that a woman from the Ukraine could
be a victim of human trafficking. This suspicion was confirmed after
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