Section five Lay monitoring Monitoring of places of detention by unpaid volunteers from the local community is a key feature of the UK’s NPM. Such lay monitoring takes place throughout the UK and for different types of detention. The lay monitoring of prisons, in particular, has a long history. Boards of visitors, as IMBs were previously known, were first established in the 19th century, while previous incarnations can be traced as far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Police custody visiting was introduced in 1984 following Lord Scarman’s report into the Brixton riots in 1981. While lay monitoring was therefore well established before the adoption of OPCAT in 2002, it nonetheless fits well with the OPCAT framework. There are currently four NPM members who monitor detention solely through the use of lay monitors. In addition, some of the professional inspectorates monitoring detention in the health and social care context use lay monitors as well as paid inspectors. It is likely that the number of lay bodies in the NPM will increase in the future. For example, the NPM anticipates that lay observers of court custody in England and Wales will be designated by the government as an additional member of the NPM, although the timing of this designation is not certain. Lay monitoring by the NPM 1 Each prison and young offender institution in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is monitored by an IMB made up of members from the local community. 2 Similarly, immigration removal centres and short-term holding facilities throughout the UK are monitored by IMBs. 3 Police custody suites throughout the UK are monitored by independent custody visitors. 4 Some of the professional inspectorates monitoring detention in the health and social care context, such as the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, use lay monitors in addition to paid inspectors. In implementing OPCAT effectively, the use of lay monitors offers particular benefits while also presenting some challenges. These issues were discussed at a workshop in October 2011. The NPM is grateful to the Human Rights Implementation Centre at the University of Bristol for its support of this event. The purpose of the workshop was to give the lay bodies in the NPM the opportunity to discuss the implementation of OPCAT in more depth, taking into account the nature of their organisations. Layered monitoring The existence of lay monitors of detention highlights another key feature of the UK’s NPM – some places of detention, including prisons, police custody and immigration detention, receive ‘layered’ monitoring by both a professional inspectorate and by volunteers from the community. The professional inspectorate provides cyclical, in-depth professional inspection against published criteria, which include the use of, for example, health care experts as recommended by the 35