Police detention centres
On follow-up visits to the police detention centre in July and August 2020,
however, the commission observed that the statement from the Federal
Ministry of the Interior did not refer to the bed viewed in December 2019 but
to a bed in another recreation room. There were thus two beds reinforced with
boards. The NPM thus took this opportunity to recommend replacing both
beds.
X
The condition and furnishing of cells in the sense of the Detention Regulation
(Anhalteordnung) shall always facilitate the detention of persons while observing
human dignity.
X
Standards for detention enforcement that are agreed with the NPM and can only be
realised with structural measures should be implemented without delay.
X
The technical surveillance of all cells used for securing purposes in police detention
centres should be carried out using video surveillance that is independent of any light
source and observing the personal space of the detainees.
2.6.10 Deficits in the documentation of detention
The complete and correct documentation of official acts serves to make the
actions of law enforcement officers and the course of official acts transparent. In
the same way, law enforcement officers can subsequently provide information
on the course of an official act and protect themselves from potentially
incorrect claims. In the police detention centres, detention is predominantly
documented in the “detention log” form and in the “Detention file prison
administration” (“Anhaltedatei-Vollzugsverwaltung”) application.
Correct documentation
promotes transparency
As announced in the NPM Report 2019 (p. 166), the NPM carried out additional
investigations in 2020 surrounding the death of a detainee awaiting forced
return in Roßauer Lände police detention centre in June 2019. The result
showed that there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the law
enforcement or medical staff in the police detention centre, particularly when,
according to two expert opinions from the public prosecutors’ office of Vienna,
the detainee died of sudden heart failure.
The NPM criticised, however, that in the detention log III (police medical
officer expert opinion) used to document the fitness to undergo detention
examination, wounds from an existing health condition were incorrectly
recorded as “injuries” (due to an official act). The Federal Ministry of the
Interior regretted these entries that did not correspond to the facts.
Entries in the detention
log that did not
correspond to the facts
Furthermore, it transpired that the Federal Ministry of the Interior only
instructed all Police Departments in July 2019 to exclusively use the new
version of the detention log III which the suicide prevention working group
Use of outdated
versions of forms
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