2.4 Human rights risk area 4: Institutional and staff issues The recruitment and selection of prison staff and their training and conditions of employment (status, levels of pay, own safety and adequate resources to perform their work) are significant elements of ensuring the respect of prisoners’ dignity and rights. The attitude of prison staff and the way they interact with prisoners can have a huge impact on the institutional culture. Establishing and maintaining a constructive, positive culture is an important way to prevent torture and other ill-treatment and to protect the rights of all 433 prisoners. Those who work in prisons perform an important public service, and they often work in difficult, stressful and sometimes dangerous conditions, sometimes encountering violent and abusive prisoners, some of whom have posed major threats to public security in the past. Also, the role and functions of prison staff are often misunderstood or subject to negative stereotyping as security guards. In fact, prison staff play a key role in the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, and their job is complex and multi-faceted, requiring a specific and diverse skill set, including good interpersonal skills and the ability to deal with many different and often challenging situations and individuals, in particular 434 in the context of VERLT in prisons. Recruitment The composition of prison staff working on VERLT-related issues should reflect, at all staffing levels, including at top management level, the diverse ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background of all prisoners housed in the relevant facility (as far as possible).435 Female staff must be recruited to work with women detainees and girls, and it is crucial that they are involved in the design and delivery of gender-sensitive interventions related to VERLT. A diverse staff will contribute to a better understanding of and help prevent intolerance towards a diversity of cultures, political and religious beliefs and traditions; it will help to establish a non-discriminatory attitude towards prisoners and foster trust between prisoners and staff.436 More practically, diverse staff can ensure that language barriers are overcome, or at least mitigated, and that there is a better understanding of different cultures, which has a positive impact, including on prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration. 433 PRI and APT, Institutional Culture in Detention: A Framework for Preventive Monitoring, (London: PRI, 2013), p. 3; ICRC, “Radicalization in Detention – the ICRC’s Perspective”, op. cit., note 134, p. 2. 434 ODIHR & PRI, Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules, op. cit., note 10, Chapter 1, para. 187 435 IIJ, “Prison Management Recommendations to Counter and Address Prison Radicalization”, op. cit., note 60, Recommendation 4; UN Bangkok Rules, op. cit., note 79, Rule 29. UNODC, Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons, op. cit., note 2, pp. 28-29; Council of Europe, “Council of Europe Handbook”, op. cit., note 2, para. 174. Concerning women, UN Nelson Mandela Rules, op. cit., note 13, Rule 81. With regard to juveniles, UN Beijing Rules, op. cit., note 126, Rules 1.6 and 22. 436 UNODC, Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons, op. cit., note 2, p. 29. For more details on staff recruitment, composition of prison staff and required skills, see ODIHR & PRI, Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules, op. cit., note 10, Chapter 1, paras. 198-213 90