Police cells need upgrading, say inspectors
9 Apr 08
Report calls for common standards and promotion of good practice
Significant improvements in police custody facilities are called for in a newly published report.
The report, which follows an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS), calls on Scottish police forces to work together to develop a clear strategy for custody management to inform future design and development of the physical facilities for custody.
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Paddy Tomkins said that providing enough suitable accommodation to keep people in custody was a significant challenge for police forces and their police authorities.
"Our inspection found that the design of force custody suites varied across Scotland, according to age, history and limitations of the site."
HMICS recommends that forces develop a "robust and sustainable" common model to help calculate cell requirements and to inform refurbishment or building of new facilities. In addition they should:
- review their custody facilities with regard to prisoners' welfare and rights, including privacy, and consult appropriate bodies to determine what facilities should be provided, taking account of staff and prisoner safety;
- consider staff welfare requirements in the design of custody facilities and take steps to ensure that these are not compromised by future custody planning;
- combine to develop a clear strategy for custody management that will direct future design and development of custody facilities, taking account of all available information on police custody practice.
A further proposal that police forces consider contracting out their custody arrangements, perhaps in fewer but bigger custody centres, was quickly ruled out by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. HMICS said there was no need for police to be in charge of the daily management of custody facilities, but Mr MacAskill said the police had "served us well for generations" and any improvements should be under their remit and not that of a private company.
Mr Tomkins said the review had worked to identify good practice and help make sure all forces could learn from the many good examples that existed, so as to minimise risk.
"The standards expected in terms of the duty of care are properly much higher than they were in the times when these facilities were first built - that means that adopting the higher standards will cost in terms of capital investment. Police authorities and central government need to be aware of this when projecting capital spend and, for some, this may mean that new ways of collaborating or 'out-sourcing' will have to be explored."
He added that at the moment it was left very much up to individual forces to decide when and what changes to make or what bids to make for capital budget. "A consistent approach across the country would help forces and those in custody know what to expect, as well as enabling forces to take account of prisoners' rights and privacy in a uniform way."