Sierra Leone: facilitating access to legal advice In order to address a shortage of trained lawyers, particularly in rural parts of the country, a network of community-based paralegals, ‘Timap for justice’ (Timap) has been established in Sierra Leone. Timap provides free legal assistance to individuals and undertakes a range of legal services including providing assistance to victims to submit complaints and providing legal support throughout the complaints handling and investigation process. United States of America: complaint forms readily available in prisons Some prisons in the US have instituted a policy of making complaint forms freely available to prisoners in various common areas within facilities such as housing units and libraries. They can also be obtained through unit staff, or case workers. Some prisons have also put in place secure boxes located on prison grounds for prisoners to submit complaints without the requirement for contact with a member of staff. Prompt processing and keeping records To assist in recording and responding quickly to complaints, some complaints handling bodies have found If you ran a business, complaints would it useful to establish case management procedures. This be really important management can include introducing centralised registers of complaints information.” to help with managing cases and assist in identifying Dame Anne Owers, National Chair of the measures that need to be taken in relation to a Independent Monitoring Boards, United particular complaint. Data recorded from such systems Kingdom, speaking at a CTI-Commonwealth event, London, April 2018 can be used to inform policy and financial allocations for institutional or other improvements. Systematic recording of complaints (and collecting associated data) can also help States with their periodic reporting to the UN Committee against Torture and other bodies (see CTI Implementation Tool 3/2017 Reporting to the UN Committee against Torture). “ European Union: minimum standards on registering a complaint and the right to information European Union Directive 2012/29/EU sets out minimum standards on the rights, support and protection that States should provide for victims of crime. According to the Directive, victims should receive a written acknowledgement of their complaint which should include the basic elements of the crime, the time and place, and any damage or harm caused by the crime. The acknowledgment should also include a file number and the time and place for reporting of the crime in order to serve as evidence that the crime has been reported. The Directive also establishes that victims have the right to be informed of the time and place of any trial resulting from the complaint and any appeals of a judgment in the case. Ireland: prison case management system In the Irish Prison Service, complaint post boxes are located throughout all prisoner accessible areas and the governor of the prison is responsible for ensuring that all complaint boxes are emptied on each working day and that all complaint forms are brought to a central location. Complaint forms are then assigned a reference number, date stamped and entered into the relevant complaints journal and on the Prisoner Information Management System (PIMS). All complaint forms are subsequently photocopied and a copy returned to the complainant in a sealed envelope by a prison officer not below the rank of Chief Officer. TOOL: Complaints and investigations 4/17