Reaction: Extensive repairs to the cell area had been commissioned immediately
after the Commission’s visit. Amongst other things, thorough cleaning, minor repairs to the tiles, replacement washbasins in the corridor, new wooden beds and
benches, painting, as well as the procurement of new mattresses had been carried
out. The implementation of a separate sight guard for the toilet area had not been
possible for constructional reasons, but the cell area had been protected adequately
against outsiders looking in by adding a central door. There were considerable difficulties when it came to preventing a mobile sight guard of the daily procedure used
when it came to issuing, storing and taking it back, should it be needed. Furthermore, it was expected that Police Station 16 would soon be moving out of the premises as a consequence of the conversion/new building of Munich Main Station. As a
matter of principle, the WC area in the single detention cells of the Bavarian police
could be seen from the spy-hole. The installation of a sight guard was considered to
be objectionable for reasons of the risk of self-injury of the inmate, as well as of the
self-protection of the supervisory officer.
The Joint Commission concluded from the statement of the Police Headquarters
Munich of 27 June 2012 that pepper spray was used in the cell on the occasion of
two special incidents on 13 April 2010 and on 1 September 2010. The emergency
services had had to be called to rinse and clean the eyes in one such case.
Reaction: Pepper spray was a physical aid within the meaning of Article 61 para. 3 of the Bavarian Police Tasks Act. The ingredients of the pepper spray were not
volatile, and it did not disperse in the room. Each police officer had to have been
demonstrably trained in using the irritant pepper spray and in its handling. Training was also provided in the use of this aid in closed rooms at regular further training events.
5.3 Psychiatric clinics
5.3.1 Ochsenzoll North Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg
The Joint Commission visited the Asklepios Clinic North, PsychiatricPsychotherapeutic Clinics – Ochsenzoll on 29 February 2012. The Joint Commission was accompanied by an expert for psychiatry and psychotherapy. With
more than 1,000 treatment places (593 of which are residential)26, the Asklepios
Clinic is one of the largest psychiatric-psychotherapeutic clinics in Germany, and
cares for mentally ill people from Hamburg and the area who are in need of
treatment. It is an association of a total of seven specialised individual clinics. A
total of 578 patients were accommodated as in-patients at the time of the visit.
26 The information below on the number of in-patient treatment places does not include the Clinic for Forensics
(placement of offenders with mental disorders in psychiatric institutions).
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