VISITS BY THE JOINT COMMISSION deportation. At the time of the visit the facility was holding 72 male and seven female detainees awaiting deportation and 168 sentenced prisoners. The male detainees awaiting deportation (Block 2) are kept separate from prisoners (Block 1). The Joint Commission visited various parts of the facility, including the specially secured room, the enhanced supervision room, the various units accommodating male and female detainees awaiting deportation plus their tea kitchens and common rooms, the family room, the sanitary facilities, the visiting and admissions area, the medical section, the outdoor sports facilities, as well as the sports and recreation section. The Joint Commission also spoke to several detainees awaiting deportation, to the prison doctor, the Catholic priest, a representative of the staff council and a member of staff of European Homecare (EHC). Block 2, in which male detainees awaiting deportation are accommodated, is divided into three units: one admissions unit (closed unit) and two open units. A “suitability check” is carried out in the admissions unit to establish whether there is an increased risk of flight and the detainee awaiting deportation’s level of social competence. Detainees generally spend three to four days in this unit. Block 3 is used to accommodate female detainees awaiting deportation separately from the male detainees. Further, the furnishings and fittings in the specially secured room give occasion to draw attention to the need to protect detainees’ privacy. The specially secured room in the facility is a very large room which has a squat toilet. This toilet is also visible via a CCTV camera installed in the room. Human dignity demands that where CCTV monitoring of a cell, including the toilet, is in operation, the detainee’s genital area must be obscured on screen. Unrestricted monitoring of the specially secured room can at most be considered on the basis of a carefully weighed up, well-founded and documented decision in an individual case where there is an acute risk of suicide or self-harm. However, mention should also be made in this context of the possibility of pixellating the images, which helps protect privacy and at the same time shows the detained person’s actions in outline. The Joint Commission witnessed this approach being applied in Frankfurt am Main I Prison, for instance. Reference must also be made to the fact that Lower Saxony has already started pixellating images as standard procedure, including those captured in specially secured rooms. Response: The recommendation made regarding the enhanced supervision room in the infirmary, namely that the sanitary facilities should at least be partially screened off to prevent them being visible, and the recommendation made regarding the specially secured room, namely that the detainee’s genital area be obscured by pixellating the CCTV footage, cannot be implemented for security reasons. Detainees are placed in these rooms after examining each individual case where there is an acute risk of suicide. In such situations the protection of the life which is at risk has absolute priority over the protection of privacy. The head of the institution reported that detainees awaiting deportation are not returned to Büren Prison after a failed deportation procedure. By order of the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia of 12 November 2012 (ref. 4431-IV.28), after a failed deportation procedure the persons concerned must be taken to another prison in North Rhine-Westphalia. The order contains a breakdown for the entire year, according to which a different prison is obliged to take in detainees awaiting deportation every six weeks. Other than Büren Prison, there are no other prisons in North Rhine-Westphalia which are equipped to accommodate detainees awaiting deportation. However, other prisons would also have to guarantee that they can hold detainees awaiting deportation separately from prisoners. If the principle of the separation of prisoners and detainees awaiting deportation cannot be observed, the Joint Commission recommends rethinking this modus operandi. Response: The recommendation regarding the procedure to be adopted following a failed deportation procedure has Recommendations and response The enhanced supervision room in the infirmary is equipped with “riot-proof” furniture. This is regarded as a less severe measure than detention in the specially secured room and is in particular used where there is a risk of suicide. The toilet in the enhanced supervision room is visible through a window in the door. The Joint Commission would like to emphasise that it follows from Article 1 of the Basic Law that each person has the right to the protection of privacy when performing their bodily needs. The CPT has also repeatedly stressed that privacy must be protected when a person is using the toilet or washing. (In-cell) sanitary facilities must at least be partially partitioned 64 off. According to the CPT’s report, this also applies to high security cells, which are comparable to an 65 enhanced supervision room. The Joint Commission is of the opinion that measures must also be taken in the enhanced supervision room to protect detainees’ privacy. 64 cf. CPT report on Finland CPT/Inf (2009) 5, paragraph 109 cf., e.g., CPT report on Hungary, CPT/Inf (2010) 16, paragraph 17 65 62