HUMAN RIGHTS CULTURE CHANGE IN PLACES OF DETENTION h. Physical environment The physical environment of a place of detention can hinder or support the implementation of human rights. Its architecture can reflect a given philosophy around detention. While it is not always possible to change bricks and mortar, this can support culture change. An example of a place of detention built according to human rights principles is the Alexander Maconochie Centre in Australia, a prison which became operational in 2009.55 According to the Australian Capital Territory Corrective Services, the prison was designed in an open campus style, minimizing overt harsh signs of incarceration and with accommodation units around a ‘town square’ which provides the focus of prison activities.56 Cells were designed to improve privacy and cottage accommodation was designed to give prisoners a high degree of autonomy over day-to-day decisions, with prisoners cooking their own meals and managing their own budgets with training and support from staff. The visiting area was designed to have a friendly atmosphere, with a coffee shop and provision for prisoners to have barbecues with their families. i. Recruiting, placing and dismissing staff Positive culture change involves ensuring that the skills and experience of staff at different levels reflect the values, policies, new operational structures and roles put in place. This may mean ensuring a number of staff from certain ethnic minorities or professional backgrounds. At the middle management level, there need to be individuals who are committed to the change process: to lead it, convince others and make sure that the new procedures are enforced. It may also involve dismissing staff who are not suitable for the role or new organisation. For example, starting in 2004, police reform in Georgia involved abolishing problematic units and downsizing others, including dismissing staff who were thought to have been involved in corruption and other illegal acts57 – in total around half the police force lost their jobs in the process.58 The remaining officers were issued with redesigned uniforms and were given wage increases on average nine to ten times more than in the past.59 While shortcomings in the impact of these reforms have been pointed out,60 there are also indications of improved police practice, including ‘considerably improved’ treatment of detainees by police.61 More recently, in 2012, the Mayor of Acapulco, Mexico, announced that he would be dismissing 500 of the city’s 1,700-strong police force after they failed a test designed to identify corrupt officers.62 This followed a report released by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission in 2011 describing a ‘systematic pattern’ of illegal police activity in conducting drug searches. j. Training Training is part of ensuring that staff understand the new organisational vision, policies and procedures as well as the human rights principles behind them. The emphasis should not be on theory, ie legal human rights standards, but what these mean in practice, for example through the discussion of case studies. In terms of culture change, training for a role is as important as training for a task.63 Training courses are more likely to be effective if they are given by credible trainers who understand the operational aspect of the work, including the everyday challenges faced by staff.64 Staff demographics in Swedish immigration detention Part of human rights culture change efforts in immigration detention in Sweden involved replacing private security contractors with ‘social workers, counsellors and people with experience working in closed institutions, to bring sensitivity and experience to their work…’. Grant Mitchell, Asylum Seekers in Sweden, 2001. 55. J Stanhope, The Prisoner as Human Being, Right Now, 2012 <http://rightnow.org.au/topics/bill-of-rights/the-prisoner-as-a-human-being/> <accessed 30 November 2015>. 56. ACT Corrective Services, Alexander Maconochie Centre information booklet, 2010. See also http://www.cs.act.gov.au/custodial_operations. <accessed 30 November 2015>. 57. It should be noted that a number of police officers that were fired for corrupt or other illegal practices were later recruited by the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Support and became prison guards in the Georgian penitentiary system. 58. M Devlin, Seizing the Reform Moment: Rebuilding Georgia’s Police, 2004 – 2006, Princeton University, Innovations for a Successful Society, 2010 www.princeton.edu/successfulsocieties; J Boda and K Kakachia, The Current Status of Police Reform in Georgia, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), 2005. 59. ibid. 60. ibid. 61. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), Report to the Georgian Government on the visit to Georgia carried out by the CPT from 5 to 15 February 2010, CPT/Inf (2010) 27. 62. ‘Acapulco mayor to fire 500 police officers for corruption’, Jurist, 3 November 2012, http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/11/acapulco-mayor-to-fire-500police-officers-for-corruption.php <accessed 27 November 2015>. 63. C Harfield, ‘Paradigm not Procedure: Current Challenges to Police Cultural Incorporation of Human Rights in England and Wales’, Public Space: The Journal of Law and Social, vol. 4, 2009, p91. 64. In the experience of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and according to experts interviewed by the author. Penal Reform International | Institutional culture in detention: a framework for preventive monitoring | 15