ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES prison staff to anticipate and prevent problems before they even arise. It also means that should an incident occur the prison staff know prisoners well enough to know how to respond.115 Furthermore, a dynamic security approach has shown to in itself improve security. Constructive as opposed to confrontational, relations between prisoners and staff ‘will serve to lower the tension inherent in any prison environment and by the same token significantly reduce the likelihood of violent incidents and associated ill-treatment’.116 ‘Approachability of staff, instilling confidence, creating a sense of order and safety/security’ has been found to prevent conflict.117 Dynamic security entails the prison staff being directly involved with prisoners (‘basic grade staff’) and requires adequate training. Interpersonal skills of staff are an important element in the effective application of dynamic security.118 Staff should understand the relevance of verbal and non-verbal behaviour, and be familiar with the different groups represented in prison (including religious, ethnic and cultural groups).119 The SMR acknowledge the concept of dynamic security in Rule 76(c), and emphasise the role of conflict prevention and alternative dispute resolution in prisons in Rule 38(1). It has been noted, in the context of post-conflict situations, that to a certain extent the ‘introduction of effective dynamic security elements, such as increased staff/prisoner contact and interaction, can offset a prison’s limited static security components’.120 Recruitment and selection of prison staff The Essex group recommended that penitentiary systems have a recruitment policy in place which is clear about the skills and qualities required. The policy should have proper criteria and procedures to ensure only suitable applicants are employed. It has been stressed that, ‘[t]o obtain personnel of the right calibre, the authorities must be prepared to invest adequate resources into the process of recruitment and training and to offer adequate salaries’.121 The skills described in Rule 76 should already be taken into account in the course of recruitment, i.e. prison authorities should seek to recruit staff who have already acquired relevant skills. The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials also call on governments and law enforcement agencies to ‘ensure that all law enforcement officials are selected by proper screening procedures, have appropriate moral, psychological and physical qualities for the effective exercise of their functions and receive continuous and thorough professional training’. They also call for a periodic review of the ‘continued fitness to perform these functions’.122 A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management, pp. 59, 70-71. See also United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Prison Incident Management Handbook, 2013, pp. 15 and 21 onwards (DPKO Prison Incident Management Handbook); Handbook on Dynamic Security; and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights and Prisons: A Manual on Human Rights Training for Prison Officials, vol. I, Geneva, 2005, p. 98 (Human Rights and Prisons). 115  CPT 2nd General Report, CPT/Inf (92) 3, para 45. 116  Handbook on Dynamic Security, p. 32. 117  Handbook on Dynamic Security, p. 32. 118  Handbook on Dynamic Security, p. 32. 119  DPKO Prison Incident Management Handbook, p. 21. 120  CAT SMR revision observations, CAT/C/51/4, para. 63. 121  UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, Principle 18. 122  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 36