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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: The National Offender Management Service is interested in developing an understanding on assaults against prison staff in other countries. We are looking at data on assaults, classification and definition of incidents and action taken against perpetrators.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?There is no fixed definition of assault. If the prison officer feels he/she is subjected to threats or a violent act, it should be reported.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?In our internal control system the officer is required to describe the incident (the nature of the incident, the severity of the incident etc).
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?2014: 508 2015: 801 These figures do not show the number of assaults, but the number of entries in our internal control system. One incident can provide multiple entries (if for example three staff members are involved in the incident, it may provide three entries).
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?This is regulated through section 40 of the Execution of Sentences Act: Sanctions to be used in connection with breaches of the execution of prison sentences and special criminal sanctions. It reads (excerpt): The Correctional Services may impose sanctions pursuant to this provision if prisoners wilfully or negligently breach the rules for peace, order and discipline or preconditions and conditions in or pursuant to this Act. This includes breaches committed during temporary absence from prison or during transportation to and from prison. A decision may also be made to impose sanctions on any person who has aided and abetted the breach. The following sanctions may be imposed: a) A written reprimand, b) Loss of daily pay for a specified period, c) Loss of privileges, d) Exclusion from leisure company or other leisure activities for a period of up to 20 days for breaches that are assessed in the same sanctions case, or e) Loss of entitlement to leave of absence for a period not exceeding four months. In addition, the behaviour of an inmate will have consequences for the execution of the sentence. The inmate may be transferred from low security to high security and incidents may be taken into account when it is to be decided whether an inmate is to be released on parole or be granted leave from prison. Serious incidents will be reported to the police.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?The Correctional Service Staff Academy KRUS published a report about violence and threats against prison staff in 2012. The report (in Norwegian) is available at https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/160572. Due to the increase in the number of reported incidents in 2015, the Correctional Service will establish a group with representatives from the Directorate, the prisons and the unions to assess the situation and make recommendations.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?All instances of violence against prison staff is recorded on our Prisoner Records System (PR2) and a Risk Marker applied to their record. Definition: “Any violent act against a prisoner and / or member of staff”.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) record 3 levels of assault however there is currently a small working group reviewing these definitions, revised definitions are scheduled for presentation by September 2016; SERIOUS ASSAULT: A fight or assault which results in any individual receiving specified injuries: fractures, internal injuries, serious cuts, laceration which require 4 or more stitches, sutures or staples; stab or puncture wounds, severe bruising, severe scalds or burns, sever general shock or any other injury which requires treatment and admission to an external hospital as an inpatient, but excluding admission for observation MINOR INJURY ASSAULT: An injury resulting from a fight or assault by a prisoner on any other person, where any individual suffers a graze, scald, burn, scratch, abrasion, minor bruise, swelling or superficial cut. NO INJURY ASSAULT: A physical assault or fight which results in no physical injury.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?2015/16: 3 Serious Assault, 55 Minor Assault, 115 No Injury Assault 2014/15: 9 Serious Assault, 54 Minor Assault, 94 No Injury Assault
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?The SPS have accepted a Zero Tolerance approach to violence therefore all incidents of violence are reported to Police Scotland for further investigation and the prisoner removed from association. In addition to this the prisoner would be charged under Breach of Discipline in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Scottish Prison Rules 2011. Following a disciplinary hearing a Governor may impose on a prisoner one or more of the following punishments where a prisoner is found guilty of a breach of discipline: (a) A caution; (b) Forfeiture of any privileges granted under the system of privileges applicable to a prisoner for a period not exceeding 14 days; (c) Stoppage of or deduction from earnings for a period not exceeding 56 days and of an amount not exceeding one half of the prisoner’s earnings in any week (or part thereof) falling within the period specified; (d) Cellular confinement for a period not exceeding 3 days; (e) In the case of an untried prisoner found guilty of escaping or attempting to escape, forfeiture of the entitlement to wear his or her own clothing under rule 32 for any period as may be specified; (f) In the case of an untried prisoner or a civil prisoner, forfeiture of any or all of the entitlements referred to in rules 45 and 52 for any period as may be specified; and (g) Forfeiture of the entitlement to withdraw money in terms of rule 51(3) for a period not exceeding 14 days.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?A profile of Violence within Scottish Prisons; 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2016 was completed in May 2016. The aim of this profile was to analyse and assess emerging trends and patterns in relation to violent incidents within each of the prisoner population types across the Scottish Prison Service. The purpose is to provide senior management within Operations Directorate with information that will assist their decision making around the deployment of resources to mitage key threat areas.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?Acts of violence are defined in the Penal Code. The assault will be judged on the Criminal Code definitions. Minor assaults treated disciplinary proceedins, assaults and aggravated assaults shall reported to the police for preliminary investigation.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?Yes, see previous answer.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?In 2015 assaults against staff was 44 cases . Of these, three cases were reported to the police for preliminary investigation and 41 cases dealt with in disciplinary proceedings .
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?Disciplinary punishment, which are; warning, the loss of rights and solitary confinement maximum period is ten days. Minor assaults treated disciplinary proceedins. If it is a normal or a serious assault, it shall reported to the police for preliminary investigation.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?Not recently.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?Yes, such instances are recorded, criminal processes are started and pre-trial investigation is carried out to determine the circumstances of the case. According with the Criminal Law, an assault upon a representative of public authority or other public official, in connection with lawful official activities of such a person are the unlawful actions of a person by causing bodily harm, physical pain. In the Criminal Law there also is a set punishment for resisting a representative of public authority or other public official.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?In such cases we carry out Forensic Medical Examination of the bodily harm to determine the level or severity of the assault (trivial, minor, moderate or severe bodily injury). Depending on the level of severity of the bodily injury and consequences, the assault is qualified as criminal offence according with the Criminal Law.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?In 2015, five criminal procedures were started in accordance with Section 269 Part 1 of the Criminal Law. In 2014 – two criminal procedures.
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?According with Section 269 of the Criminal Law: (1) For a person who commits an assault upon a representative of public authority or other public official, in connection with lawful official activities of such a person, or commits an assault upon a person who is participating in preventing or interrupting a criminal or otherwise unlawful offence, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term up to five years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine. (2) For a person who commits the same acts, if as a result of the assault serious bodily injuries are occasioned or other serious consequences caused, or if the assault was committed in an organised group, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term of two and up to ten years, with or without police supervision for a term up to three years. In any case, the prisoner also has disciplinary sanction imposed on them, however if the offence cannot be classified as criminal offence, only disciplinary action is taken.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?Do not have such information. Most likely no.
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yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?We adopted special Guidelines for Dealing with Threatening Behaviour to Staff of the National Prison Administration of Slovenia. In the Art. 2 the assault is defined in a way that it also includes different forms of threats as: “every attack or threat with attack on life, body, personal integrity or property due to carrying out of tasks in working process or a duty as part of the Administration. Verbal, written of physical activity of one or more people (directly or indirectly) oriented towards any civil servant of the Prison Administration or his/her family member with the aim to hurt in psychical or physical way or threatens health or life is understood as a threat.” Threat of assault could be interposed explicitly or indirectly via third person or via letter or other media correspondence or through any other mode.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?Yes, we record the severity of assaults on prison stuff. For every individual situation a special commission with the protocol to accept needed further steps is formed. The task of commission is also to establish if there were elements of criminal case in particular situation.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?In 2014 we recorded 16 assaults, 10 attempted assaults and 30 treats. In the year 2015 we recorded all together 32 treats; 13 assaults and 14 attempted assaults.
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?Disciplinary procedure could be used as a sanction or if there is a basis for criminal case there could be also a criminal sanction.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?No, we have not conducted further research into the causes of violence against staff of effectiveness of sanctions.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?Attacking the officer with the intent to cause harm and may be from a push, punch etc .... the key is intent.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?Yes, the indicator which marks the seriousness of the aggression is due to the officers sick leave as a result of it. Each incident or attack is duly analysed by the headquarters before introducing indicators. Later one has to agree with the representative unions. There is agreement on the classification of aggression. Minor and serious assaults on staff
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015? What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?The Administrative way contained in the Penitentiary Law and Rules and the criminal courts procedures. The prison center or the officer, in a voluntary basis, can communicate the aggression to the court in order to open a preliminary investigation if necessary.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?We are working on the training of officials with CEFJE (centre for Legal Studies) and Public Safety Institute of Catalonia in conflict resolution from a multidisciplinary basis.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?Any assault using force against an prison staff.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?The classification of assaults on prison staff is in progress.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?In 2014 there were a total of 8 (eight) cases of attacks on staff, while in 2015 is recorded a total of 5 (five) cases .
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?According to The Enforcement of the prison sentence act, for prisoners who assault staff are available disciplinary measures, and they are also subject to general regulations in terms of criminal responsibility.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?No.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?The definition of assault is given by the Monegasque Penal Code, article 166.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?There is no classification regarding the severity in the juridical sense of 'violence'. The penal code defines in an extensive manner the notion of 'violence" since the text refers to 'violence with or without arms'
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?There hasn't been any assaults on security staff by detainees in 2014 and 2015.
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?The detainee, author of an act of violence against security staff, will be subject to penal proceedings (punishable from 6 months to 3 years imprisonment as well as a fine) and the subject of a disciplinary sanction of 14 days of disciplinary cell with the total removal of his credit for reducing the sentence.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?No study has been conducted because the statistics concerning the violence against prison staff are very low. In fact, since 2005 a single aggression has been recorded.
yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?Physical assault or other form of violence against the employee of the Ministry of Corrections, penitentiary establishment, assault on the administration of the facility, forming of a criminal group for this purpose or active participation in such group conducted in the penitentiary facility, or in the establishment for the restriction of liberty, or in other place of detention, also during transfer or extradition.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?No, the severity of the assault is not recorded. Article 378, paragraph 3 of the criminal code does not include severity as a factor. Neither does the Penitentiary Department provide its own classification.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?Number of investigations initiated by the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Corrections under the article 378, para 3 of the Criminal Code: - 2014: 37 - 2015: 26
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?Violation of article 378 paragraph 3 is punished by imprisonment from 6 to 8 years. Under paragraph 4, same offence which is: a) dangerous for life b) committed on more than one occasion; c) resulted in grave consequences. subjected to imprisonment from 8 to 10 years. Under paragraph 5, same offence committed by an individual convicted for grave or severe crime - subjected to imprisonment from 10 to 12 years
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?No internal research has been carried out in regards to causes of violence against staff in prison or effectiveness of sanctions.
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yes
What is your definition of ‘assault’?All assault incidents, no matter how minor (including spitting on other individuals), including fights, are instructed to be recorded on the Incident Reporting System, the source of assault statistics. The published definition of assault that we use is as follows: Assaults in prison custody cover a wide range of violent incidents including fights between prisoners. NOMS does not use the Home Office counting rule definitions of Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH), affray etc. and figures cannot be compared directly.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?We use the following definition of serious assault incidents, and we record and publish serious assaults in total, prisoner on prisoner serious assault incidents, and serious assaults on staff. Serious assault incident: An assault incident which involves one or more of the following: • a sexual assault ; • results in detention in outside hospital as an in-patient; • requires medical treatment for concussion or internal injuries; • one or more of the following injuries: o a fracture, o scald or burn, o stabbing, o crushing, o extensive or multiple bruising, o black eye, o broken nose, o lost or broken tooth, o cuts requiring suturing, o bites o temporary or permanent blindness.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?All our figures on assaults can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?Adjudications, changes to Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP), and potential prosecution
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?Recent analysis has focused on perpetration of all violent incidents in prison, rather than just those against staff. Analysis of Incident Reporting System records suggests that the most frequent reasons for assaults between 2012 and 2014 were • Retaliation (Previous assault, theft, outside issues) • Issues with Staff (IEP, resistance to search, dislike for orders/requests) • Bullying (Sex offenders, racism, informants) • Recreation (Pool, table tennis, TV, radio, games, sports, gym) • Debt (Tobacco, drugs, money) • Unauthorised Item (Drugs, alcohol, mobile phone) • Food & Queuing (Canteen issues, certain food not available) • Gang Related (Reason explicitly states gang or gang-related issues) • Tobacco (Issues relating to tobacco, other than debt, such as access / restrictions) • Medication (Access / restrictions to medication such as methadone) Statistical modelling has identified the following factors that predicted increased risk of an individual prisoner perpetrating prison violence - Higher risk of committing a violent offence outside prison (based on age, gender and history of criminal convictions and cautions) - Higher number of previous violent incidents perpetrated in current sentence (additionally, those who had never perpetrated an assault were especially unlikely to do so in the future) - Younger current age - Fewer days since previous involvement in an incident or since arrival at the prison Dr Philip Howard Head of Offender Insight [email protected]
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What is your definition of ‘assault’?At The Danish Prison and Probation Service the definition of violence or threats against prison officers is as follows: Physical or psychological violence at work. Work-related violence, threats or other offensive behavior that takes place outside working hours, i.e. situations where prison officers are attacked or threatened due to their employment as a prison officer and also cases of harassment, assault or threats that contain a direct or indirect threat to their safety, well-being or health or involve vandalism against their personal property.
Do you record the severity of assaults on prison staff?Yes. We register physical violence (classified into violence against the body and attempted violence). We register psychological violence (classified into death threats, verbal threats, threats towards relatives / friends, non-verbal threats and other). We record psychological violence / offensive events (classified into discriminatory statements, humiliation, insults and other.
Please can you share any data you have on the number of recorded assaults on staff in 2014 or 2015?In 2014 we recorded a total of 422 episodes. In 2015 we recorded a total of 404 episodes.
What sanctions are available for prisoners who assault staff?We have a zero-tolerance in cases of assault against prison officers. In cases of physical violence or psychological violence (for example threats), the incident will be reported to the police and the inmate may be prosecuted. In case of psychological violence in the form of offensive actions, the matter is persecuted through the disciplinary system of The Danish Prison and Probation Service.
Have you conducted any further research into the causes of violence against staff in prison, or effectiveness of sanctions used?Gadegaard; C. Interpersonal behavior and risk of workplace violence and threats – sector specific trends, prevention behavior, and the escalation of workplace aggression” Institut for Psykologi, Det Samfundsvidenskabelige fakultet, Københavns Universitet. 2015. PhD afhandling
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