NEW ZEALAND: ABUSIVE USE OF “TIE-DOWN BEDS” AND WAIST RESTRAINTS Separate reviews by New Zealand’s Ombudsman25 and an independent expert commissioned by the country’s Human Rights Commission, Dr Sharon Shalev,26 highlighted the high use of prolonged solitary confinement and restraint practices in places of detention and the overrepresentation of the indigenous Maori people in these incidents. The use of “tie-down beds” and/or waist restraints in prisons and the use of restraint chairs in police custody was particularly concerning, and it was not clear that these extreme forms of restraint were reserved as a last resort when all else had been tried and failed. Tie-down beds are multi-point restraint systems used to bind prisoners by the torso, arms, and legs, purportedly to prevent self-harm. By law, they can only be used as a last resort and with medical approval. The Ombudsman detailed cases where the use of restraints amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. There was under-resourcing and prisoners lacked access to adequate mental health care services, contributing to the use of restraints to manage prisoners. In one case, a prisoner was restrained in a tie-down bed for almost 600 hours, and in another case the prisoner was kept in a waist restraint with his hands cuffed behind his back for an average of 21 hours a day over a period of more than three months.27 The use of “tie-down beds” and/or waist restraints in prisons and the use of restraint chairs in police custody was particularly concerning, and it was not clear that these extreme forms of restraint were reserved as a last resort when all else had been tried and failed. 25 Ombudsman findings under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) 2017: A question of restraint, 1 March 2017, http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources-and-publications/documents/a-question-of-restraint. 26 Dr Sharon Shalev, “Thinking outside the box? A review of seclusion and restraint practices in New Zealand”, http://www.seclusionandrestraint.co.nz/ 27 Ombudsman report, “A question of restraint”, opt cit. Page 24 onwards for more detail of the specific cases. Ombudsman found that the use of the tie-down bed and/or waist restraints in the circumstances of five prisoners amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment for Article 16 of the Convention against Torture. COMBATING TORTURE: THE NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE REGULATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EQUIPMENT Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation 17