1. PRISON MANAGEMENT are fixed and cannot be changed.38 Those conducting the assessments must be properly trained to avoid classifications being influenced by stereotyping, profiling and personal assumptions about a prisoner.39 Risk assessments should be regularly reviewed so that prisoners are housed in an appropriately secure environment at all times. Regular reviews can facilitate the transfer of relevant prisoners to lower or higher security institutions as appropriate. Such reviews can act as a strong incentive for better behaviour. 83 Prisoner classification must never be used to discriminate or impose harsher or less adequate conditions on certain individuals or groups of prisoners. The application of assessment and classification tools must, therefore, be subject to scrutiny by the central prison administration and to review by policy-makers. 84 Prisoners must be able to challenge their assessments and classifications through agreed procedures. Such a procedure is particularly important in cases where a particular security classification bars individuals from applying for early release or sentence reduction. 85 The CPT has stated that large-capacity dormitories make the appropriate allocation of individual prisoners, based on a case-by-case risk and needs assessment, almost impossible. In such environments the risk of intimidation and violence is high and offender subcultures are more likely to develop.40 86 While Rules 89, 93 and 94 fall under the section of the Mandela Rules that deal specifically with prisoners under sentence, pre-trial detainees must also be subject to careful, ongoing assessments and classifications. The assessment and classification of pre-trial detainees necessarily differs in some ways because the individual may be – and must be presumed to be – innocent. Even if convicted, the eventual sanction is not foreseeable. However, individualized assessments still need to be undertaken with regard to risks and needs, and care must be taken to ensure that pre-trial detainees are not held in worse conditions than convicted prisoners due to their status. Pre-trial detainees should not be excluded from educational and vocational programmes but are also not required to participate in them. 87 Pre-trial detainees may have particular needs and present particular risks on account of their pre-trial status. Pre-trial detainees could, for example, present a higher risk of suicide and self‑harm,41 have greater mental health needs and suffer from substance withdrawal symptoms. 1 82 24 CONTEXT: RISK ASSESSMENTS OF POTENTIALLY HIGH-RISK PRISONERS [1.8] The UNODC Handbook on the Management of High-Risk Prisoners sets out guidelines on the assessment of prisoners who are potentially high-risk, noting that such assessments “should be more in-depth and comprehensive and therefore usually of longer duration than for most other offenders, such as those who have committed petty offences or who face short terms of imprisonment”. This is due to the complex risks and needs associated with such offenders, as well as their generally long prison sentences.42 The Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states concerning dangerous offenders suggests the following steps should be undertaken in relation to risk assessment principles during the implementation of a sentence:43 38. Combating Ill‑treatment in Prison A handbook for prison staff with focus on the prevention of ill‑treatment in prisons, Jim Murdoch and Vaclav Jiricka, op. cit., note 31, p. 36: “The examples of static factors include history of previous sentences, sex, type of offence, family criminality, or motivation for committing previous offences. The age at which the offender committed the first offence is a very good predictor of future behaviour, and it is a risk factor that cannot be changed: if an offender was first arrested at age of twelve, this fact will always exist. Typical dynamic factors include financial situation, employment, attitudes encouraging the likelihood of criminal conduct, addictions, family relations, criminal friends and acquaintances, or leisure time activities. In some literature sources these dynamic factors are also called ‘criminogenic needs’, ie crime-producing factors that are strongly-correlated with risk”. 39. Ibid, p. 32-42. 40. CPT Standards, CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 Rev. 2011, op. cit., note 15, para. 29. 41. See for example: Presumption of Guilt: The Global Overuse of Pre-trial Detention, Open Society Justice Initiative, September 2014 at www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/presumption-guilt-global-overuse-pretrial-detention. 42. Handbook on the Management of High-Risk Prisoners, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2016, p. 34. 43. Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning Dangerous Offenders, Council of Europe, 19 February 2014, Recommendation CM/REC (2014) 3 at pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/3983922/6970334/CMRec+%282014%29+3+concerning+dangerous+offenders.pdf/cec8c7c4-9d7241a7-acf2-ee64d0c960cb. Guidance document on the Nelson Mandela Rules