National Preventive Mechanism Ninth Annual Report 2017–18
of Expectations for immigration detention
was published. Work began on drafting
Expectations for the inspection of TACT
detention ( jointly with HMICFRS) and on
revising Expectations: Criteria for assessing
the treatment of children and young people
and conditions in prisons.
In January 2018, following an inspection of
HMP Nottingham carried out with Ofsted
and CQC, HMI Prisons issued the first
Urgent Notification letter pursuant to the
new protocol announced by the Secretary
of State in November 2017. The Urgent
Notification protocol allows HM Chief
Inspector of Prisons to write to the Secretary
of State within seven calendar days of the
end of an inspection, providing notification
of significant concerns and the reasons for
those concerns. The Secretary of State must
respond within 28 days. Both the Urgent
Notification letter and the Secretary of
State’s response are published. Inspectors
found HMP Nottingham to be ‘fundamentally
unsafe’ and in the Urgent Notification letter
HMI Prisons expressed concern that this was
the third consecutive inspection where the
safety of the prison was assessed as poor.
In the two years since the last inspection,
levels of self-harm had risen significantly,
there had been eight apparently self-inflicted
deaths, and there were repeated failures
to achieve or embed recommendations
for improvement made by the Prisons and
Probation Ombudsman (PPO). The Secretary
of State’s response set out how the
authorities planned to deal with the issues
raised by HMI Prisons and the action plan
they had put in place to address the most
serious and urgent concerns.
42
The Deputy Chief Inspector of Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland
(HMIPS) became a member of the prisoner
health care workstream of the Health and
Justice Collaboration Board (established
by the Scottish government). In addition,
HMIPS received the Investing in Volunteers
accreditation for its Independent Prison
Monitor role.
The Independent Custody Visiting
Association (ICVA) worked with the
Independent Reviewer of Terrorism
Legislation (IRTL) to develop and launch
new training materials and report forms for
Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) who
visit those detained under the Terrorism Act.
ICVA and the IRTL launched these materials
at a TACT conference held at Red Lion
Chambers. ICVA established a TACT network
group of scheme managers who, with the
IRTL, meet quarterly to share good practice,
identify trends in custody visiting and
work with partners to ensure high-quality
reporting. In addition, ICVA worked to embed
reports from HMI Prisons and HMICFRS in
its monitoring, by highlighting areas that
custody visitors can be mindful of when
undertaking their work.
During the year, all Police Scotland custody
centres were visited by Independent
Custody Visitors (ICVs) from Independent
Custody Visiting Scotland (ICVS). A total of
2,701 detainees accepted a custody visit,
none of whom made an allegation of
ill-treatment. Some ICVs reported delays in
access to police stations and custody areas,
which led to visits being abandoned. Training
of ICVs was ongoing throughout the year.
In January 2018, ICVs received a briefing
on the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016,
which came into force in January 2018.
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