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Legal and policy framework

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  1. Rule 41 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001 states that force must not be used:

“unnecessarily and, when the application of force to a detained person is necessary, no more force than is necessary shall be used”.1

It also provides that no officer shall act deliberately to provoke a detained person.

  1. There are specific situations within an IRC where force is allowed.

6.1 The Detention Services Operating Standards Manual states that “no more force than necessary will be applied”, and:

“The Centre will ensure that force is used only when necessary to keep a detainee in custody, to prevent violence, to prevent destruction of the property of the removal centre or of others and to prevent detainees from seeking to prevent their own removal physically or physically interfering with the lawful removal of another detainee.”2

It should “only be used as a measure of last resort”.3

6.2 The Use of Force PSO also states that force is justified and lawful only if:

  • it is reasonable in the circumstances;
  • it is necessary;
  • no more force than necessary is used; and
  • it is proportionate to the seriousness of the circumstances.4

6.3 The Use of Force PSO states that ‘control and restraint’ (often referred to as C&R) techniques – a type of use of force – are “used as a last resort in order to bring a violent or refractory prisoner under control. The techniques are applied for as short a time as is possible.”5

6.4 The training on use of force provided to staff is the same training provided to prison officers. It is set out in the Use of Force Training Manual, produced by the National Offender Management Service.6

  1. There must also be a system for recording use of force and monitoring its use.7
  2. The Use of Force PSO states: “Prior to intervention in a planned incident the supervisor must … consider the use of a video camera to record the intervention and relocation.”8 Use of a surveillance camera system, including body worn cameras (ie cameras worn on the body in an overt capacity by a user for the primary purpose of recording video and audio material), must be in accordance with all relevant legislation.9 Further guidance is also contained in Body Worn Video Cameras (Prison Service Instruction 04/2017) and Detention Services Order 04/2017: Surveillance Camera Systems (February 2018), as discussed below.

References

  1. Detention Centre Rules 2001, Rule 41[↩]
  2. INQ000050_076 standard and para 1 (see Detention Services Operating Standards Manual for  Immigration Service Removal Centres, January 2005[↩]
  3. INQ000050_076 para 2 (see Detention Services Operating Standards Manual for Immigration Service Removal Centres, January 2005[↩]
  4. Prison Service Order 1600: Use of Force (INQ000185), HM Prison Service, August 2005, para 2.2[↩]
  5. Prison Service Order 1600: Use of Force (INQ000185), HM Prison Service, August 2005, pp9-10[↩]
  6. Use of Force Training Manual (NOM000001), National Offender Management Service, December 2015[↩]
  7. INQ000050_076[↩]
  8. Prison Service Order 1600: Use of Force (INQ000185), HM Prison Service, August 2005, Annex F[↩]
  9. Detention Services Order 04/2017: Surveillance Camera Systems, Home Office, February 2018, paras 2, 4. Relevant legislation includes the Data Protection Act 1998, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012[↩]
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