CPT: 9TH GENERAL REPORT 13 Safeguards against the ill-treatment of juveniles 22. Given its mandate, the CPT's first priority during visits to places where juveniles are deprived of their liberty is to seek to establish whether they are being subjected to deliberate ill-treatment. The Committee's findings to date would suggest that, in most of the establishments which it visits, this is a comparatively rare occurrence. 23. However, as is the case for adults, it would appear that juveniles run a higher risk of being deliberately ill-treated in police establishments than in other places of detention. Indeed, on more than one occasion, CPT delegations have gathered credible evidence that juveniles have featured amongst the persons tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police officers. In this context, the CPT has stressed that it is during the period immediately following deprivation of liberty that the risk of torture and ill-treatment is at its greatest. It follows that it is essential that all persons deprived of their liberty (including juveniles) enjoy, as from the moment when they are first obliged to remain with the police, the rights to notify a relative or another third party of the fact of their detention, the right of access to a lawyer and the right of access to a doctor. Over and above these safeguards, certain jurisdictions recognise that the inherent vulnerability of juveniles requires that additional precautions be taken. These include placing police officers under a formal obligation themselves to ensure that an appropriate person is notified of the fact that a juvenile has been detained (regardless of whether the juvenile requests that this be done). It may also be the case that police officers are not entitled to interview a juvenile unless such an appropriate person and/or a lawyer is present. The CPT welcomes this approach. 24. In a number of other establishments visited, CPT delegations have been told that it was not uncommon for staff to administer the occasional "pedagogic slap" to juveniles who misbehaved. The Committee considers that, in the interests of the prevention of ill-treatment, all forms of physical chastisement must be both formally prohibited and avoided in practice. Inmates who misbehave should be dealt with only in accordance with prescribed disciplinary procedures. 25. The Committee's experience also suggests that when ill-treatment of juveniles does occur, it is more often the result of a failure adequately to protect the persons concerned from abuse than of a deliberate intention to inflict suffering. An important element in any strategy to prevent such abuse is observance of the principle that juveniles in detention should as a rule be accommodated separately from adults. Examples of a failure to respect this principle which have been observed by the CPT have included: adult male prisoners being placed in cells for male juveniles, often with the intention that they maintain control in those cells; female juveniles being accommodated together with adult women prisoners; juvenile psychiatric patients sharing accommodation with chronically ill adult patients. The Committee accepts that there may be exceptional situations (e.g. children and parents being held as immigration detainees) in which it is plainly in the best interests of juveniles not to be separated from particular adults. However, to accommodate juveniles and unrelated adults together inevitably brings with it the possibility of domination and exploitation. 26. Mixed gender staffing is another safeguard against ill-treatment in places of detention, in particular where juveniles are concerned. The presence of both male and female staff can have a beneficial effect in terms of both the custodial ethos and in fostering a degree of normality in a place of detention. Mixed gender staffing also allows for appropriate staff deployment when carrying out gender sensitive tasks, such as searches. In this respect, the CPT wishes to stress that, regardless of their age, persons deprived of their liberty should only be searched by staff of the same gender and that any search which requires an inmate to undress should be conducted out of the sight of custodial staff of the opposite gender; these principles apply a fortiori in respect of juveniles. 27. Lastly, in a number of establishments visited, CPT delegations have observed custodial staff who come into direct contact with juveniles openly carrying batons. Such a practice is not conducive to fostering positive relations between staff and inmates. Preferably, custodial staff should not carry batons at all. If, nevertheless, it is considered indispensable for them to do so, the CPT recommends that the batons be hidden from view.