VISITS BY THE JOINT COMMISSION problems. This means that a range of initial and further training courses need to be available which are geared specifically to youth detention. What is decisive when it comes to ensuring that youth detention observes human rights is that its enforcement is based on clear, comprehensible concepts. These should be set down in writing and made available to detainees. The Joint Commission assesses the pedagogical concepts, as far as they affect the conditions of execution of youth detention, from the point of view of ensuring full respect for human dignity. The educational purpose of youth detention should also be reflected in the external conditions of detention. Structural precautionary measures should be restricted to what is necessary, since excessive structural and technical precautions are detrimental to that educational purpose. Internal safety precautions should be of such a nature that they do not further increase the already stressful situation of being deprived of one’s liberty and that they grant young offenders a right to privacy. The findings and insights gained during the visits which are of relevance to the execution of youth detention are summarised in the following. In any case, it does not appear necessary to provide the means of keeping someone under physical restraint, as is the case in the youth detention centres in 23 Neustrelitz, Düsseldorf and Arnstadt. Where required, the detention should be interrupted and placement in a child or youth psychiatric facility considered. The specially secured detention rooms in the youth detention centres in Düsseldorf, Wetter an der Ruhr and Hahnöfersand are equipped with surveillance cameras, as a result of which the entire room, including the toilet, is in full view. Decent conditions of detention for people deprived of their liberty means that measures must always be taken to protect their privacy. This also applies to placement in the specially secured detention room. Here, too, privacy must be guaranteed by means of corresponding measures when detainees go to the toilet, for example partial pixellation of the camera image on screen. If need be, it may be conceivable, in carefully considered, substantiated and documented individual cases, to permit unrestricted monitoring of the detention room where there is an acute danger of self-harm or suicide. The person concerned must at any rate be informed of the 24 fact that optical surveillance is in operation. This should also be documented. 1.1.2 – Findings and recommendations of the Joint Commission Educational measures The same as applies to the ordering and enforcement of special precautions should also apply to educational and disciplinary measures. Such measures can include, amongst other things, the removal of articles or exclusion from communal activities. Juveniles should, however, never be prohibited from spending time outside and they should at the very least always be left with some reading material. According to those laws on the execution of youth detention which have been adopted so far, a meeting must first be held with the young offender, and the sanction can only be the last resort. According to these laws, segregation in a specially secured detention room does not constitute an educational measure. Rather, it represents a special precaution which is only indicated in specific exceptional cases, for example where there is a risk of selfharm or harm to others. It must never serve as punishment, and a clear distinction must always be drawn between disciplinary measures and special precautionary measures. No such clear distinction is, for instance, drawn in Wetter an der Ruhr Youth Detention Centre, where placement in the specially secured detention room is listed in the house rules under the Special precautions In view of the educational purpose of youth detention and given that youth detention is not a penalty, special precautions should be applied circumspectly. This in particular applies to measures which exclude 21 juveniles from educational activities. Moreover, for the afore-mentioned reasons, whenever special precautions or the use of direct coercion are ordered, they should be preceded by an especially strict examination of proportionality. Where placement in a specially secured detention room is being considered and in problematic cases, this should include a medical examination of the detainee and involve child and youth psychiatrists, psychologists, or child and youth psychotherapists. Placement in a specially secured detention room should be kept as short as possible. Positive mention should be made of the fact that Moltsfelde Youth Detention Centre has completely abandoned the use of a specially secured detention 22 room. 21 see also Walkenhorst, Philipp: Schriftliche Stellungnahme zum Entwurf eines Jugendarrestvollzugsgesetzes Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein Land Government, Printed Paper 18/2186, p. 21 et seq. 22 The visit was conducted in 2015. 23 24 28 The visit was conducted in 2015. cf. National Agency, Annual Report 2013, p. 27–28