5 – THE POLICE 5.1 – PHYSICAL RESTRAINT 5.4 – SIZE OF CUSTODY CELLS 15 Physical restraint should not be applied in police stations. The use of physical restraint constitutes a serious interference with a person’s liberty, and also presents a serious risk of injury. Therefore, physical restraints must be subject to special requirements such as the appropriate and correct application of a strap-based system. A person under physical restraint must also be observed continuously and personally by a trained member of staff who is in direct proximity to the detainee (known as “Sitzwache”). The prisoner must also be checked on regularly by a doctor. Police custody cells must be designed in a way that ensures humane detention conditions. A single-occupancy custody cell must have a floor space of at least 4.5 square metres. Multipleoccupancy custody cells must have a floor space of at least 3.5 square metres per person. Facing walls must be separated by a distance of at least two metres, and the ceiling must be considerably higher than two metres. 5.5 – MULTIPLE-OCCUPANCY OF CUSTODY CELLS 5.2 – SHACKLING In order to ensure humane detention conditions, it is indispensable that custody cells accommodating more than one person have a completely separate toilet with separate ventilation. By contrast to physical restraint, shackling, as the National Agency understands it, is the restriction of movement by tying together arms and/or legs or by tying them to an object. Tying persons to the wall or to other objects violates their human dignity and must be avoided without exception. In order to protect the right to physical integrity, any shackling in custody should be carried out using 16 textile hand restraint belts , which should be kept in stock at all times. 5.6 – VISIBILITY OF TOILETS Staff members should indicate their presence in a suitable manner before looking through a peephole, especially if the toilet in a custody cell is not partitioned off. The person inside must be given the opportunity to indicate that they are using the toilet. A CCTV camera must be installed in a way that the toilet area is either not visible on the monitor at all, or only as pixelated images. Unrestricted monitoring of the custody cell should only be permitted in carefully assessed, substantiated and clearly documented individual cases where there is an acute danger of selfharm or suicide. If a toilet area is indeed covered by CCTV monitoring and is not pixelated, only persons of the same sex as the detainee may carry out the monitoring. 5.3 – STRIP-SEARCHES Strip-searches involving a visual inspection of the prisoner's genital area represent a severe interference 17 with the prisoner's general right of personality. It should therefore be decided on a case-by-case basis whether there are indications of a danger to public security and order that would justify a strip-search. Any such measures must adhere to the principle of 18 proportionality. If a strip-search is carried out, the reasons for this should be documented in a clear and comprehensible manner. Furthermore, the search should be conducted as respectfully as possible, for example involving two stages where half the body remains dressed in each stage. 5.7 – CCTV MONITORING CCTV monitoring should only be used in police stations in individual cases where it is imperative for the protection of the person concerned. The reasons for CCTV monitoring must be documented. In addition, the person concerned must be informed of the monitoring. The mere fact that the camera is visible is not sufficient. It must be possible for the person concerned to discern whether the camera is running. 15 See Chapter II. 4.4 – “Physical restraint”. An example of this can be seen in the model used by FRONTEX during deportation flights. 17 Federal Constitutional Court, decision of 05/03/2015, file no. 2 BvR 746/13. 18 Cologne Administrative Court, 25/11/2015, file no. 20 K 2624/14. 16 22