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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: In the Scottish Prison Service we are currently focusing on the ways in which Covid-19 has impacted on incident management, with particular focus on how staff are developed and trained to respond to large-scale incidents within prisons. That is why the Scottish Prison Service would like to kindly ask you to provide answers to the following questions.
In the Spanish case, recent directives have been implemented in order to establish criteria aimed at dealing with incidents in prison. In this regard, how to play a key role in de-escalating ongoing conflicts, how to provide a reasonable response to inmates and how to cope with difficult situations are issues deeply described in such internal recommendations. These recommendations are not based upon any theoretical framework, but developed from the experience and from tne respect to both Spanish Penitentiary Law and human rights.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?Initial training, as scheduled for all prison officers upon their begginning as prison staff, involves the good management of inter-personal conflicts. This is carried out from two perspectives: the discussion and knowledge of basic rules concerning these procedures and the practical training in prison, led by Security Deputy Governors and experienced prison officers, amongst other professionals.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?COVID-19 has not changed the necessary training related to the management of incidents within the prison context. However, practical training has to consider inter-personal distance and no personal contact, as prescribed by authorities in order to avoid new cases. In this regard, the use of masks, the distance amongst prison officers (when posible) and some other measures have come to slightly modify practical implementation of trainings on the whole. However, the core of such facilitation remains the same and rules remain to be observed and deeply described.
In Norway, we have developed 6 modules and we use several different coercive measures to handle different incidents. Here is a brief list of the various modules and coercive measures we have at our disposal: Module 1 - Self Defense Module - 2 Pacification (here we have different formations where 2 officials pacify 1 inmate, 3 officials pacify 1 inmate and where 4 officials pacify 1 inmate). Module 3 - Baton / club Module 4 – Actions- In an action we use protective equipment such as a helmet with visor, safety vest, shoulder protection, elbow protection, susp, knee / calf rails, safety shoes, gloves, protective suit and shield. Module 5 – Riot actions (we use this module when we are to take action against two or more prisoners. In this module we will also often include modules 2, 3, 4, and 6 as important tools). Module 6 - Gas (here we have OC gas and CS gas) We also have various coercive measures where the use of these is regulated in the Execution of Sentences Act §38. Approved coercive measures that we have today, and which we use in combination with the various modules are: Hand and transport cuffs, strips and bodycuff Club, including a) ASP telescopic baton and b) Long club .. Shield. Security cell and security bed. CS gas and OC gas (pepper spray). In addition to this, there is good training in the legal basis for the use of self-defense and the use of force in Norwegian prisons. This enables the officers to make good independent assessments in each individual case. We also have a pyramid of power that ranks the various coercive measures from low to high use of force.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?Everyone who has completed the University College of Correctional Service has been trained and approved in all modules, as well as trained and approved to use the various coercive measures. Furthermore, it is required by law (Section 38 of the Execution of Sentences Act) that we must practice the use of coercive measures and pacification (module 2) at least twice each year to be allowed to use these. Staff who are not trained prison officers receive a minimum of training in Module 1, but many prisons provide this staff with a broader training in several modules so that they can be used on incidents to a greater extent. Furthermore, great emphasis is placed on conflict-reducing communication to reduce unfortunate incidents that can lead to violence, aggression and increased use of force and coercive measures.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?All exercise and training has been stopped in all prisons. But some exceptions have been made: Staff who do not have any training before have been given the opportunity for training in modules 1 and 2. This training has then been carried out with a masks and various precautions. Students under training have also been granted a dispensation to receive training as this is very important for their and other officers' safety.
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How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?The main training we have for incident management within the Swedish Prison and Probation Service is conducted by our Human Resource section. It is not in particular specialized in large scale incidents, but has more of a general approach. Alongside this training, there are repetitive trainings where all kinds of incidents are practiced.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?Our incident management training was cancelled this spring (2020) due to the pandemic. It will be conducted online during the fall. The content will be exactly the same as usual and has not in any way been modified beacause of the pandemic.
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The Protocol on Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior regulates actions in the event of particularly complex emergencies in prisons. For the purpose of resolving less complex incidents in penal institutions, which still require special competencies, in tactical and technical terms, we have judicial police officers who have the necessary skills to solve tasks requiring a higher level of training. They perform daily tasks and, in case of need, engage in incident situations.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?According to the established schedule, martial arts classes, education on technical achievements and tactical training conducted by martial arts, weapons and shooting instructors and other experts are regularly held on a monthly and annual basis in accordance with the detected needs and subject of training.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?All measures and activities in penal institutions, including training of officers to deal with incident situations, are carried out according to the recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health and the National Civil Protection Headquarters. Epidemiological indicators on the risk of disease caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) are regularly monitored and necessary measures are taken with the primary goal of protecting the health of all persons deprived of their liberty and officials and timely detecting the possible occurrence of the disease and preventing its further spread. Therefore, the training of officers and the training of dealing with incident situations are adapted and subordinated to the situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
The model “Crisis Management” comes from the Netherlands and was converted into a Flemish concept. When there is a large-scale incident, a crisis team is set up to respond to it. The crisis team consist of a fixed number of roles, who are responsible for different kind of actions. A person can fulfil one or more roles. When people arrive to join the crisis team, roles can be redistributed. Also procedures and processes were developed for different sorts of incidents.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?The training of the prison staff is realised within their own prison and the groups are composed of colleagues that will have to work together during a large-scale incident. The training is based on the four pillars of crisis management: structure, cooperation, information management and strategies/decision making. During the basic training emphasis is on the structure. A good structure of the crisis organization is essential to manage a crisis in a good way. In the basic training, a theoretical part is followed by intensive practical training in which the roles in the crisis team and the management of a crisis are practiced. In addition, these practical exercises also highlight a number of preconditions to manage a crisis in the work field. This concerns, for example, the location of the room in which the crisis team congregates, the means of communication and other necessities that need to be present. In follow-up trainings, the emphasis may shift to one or more of the other pillars. The content of a follow-up training can be determined in close consultation with the governors of the institution concerned and the implementation of the preconditions as mentioned above can be tested on their usability.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?The impact of Covid-19 was dramatic for the training of the crisis teams. The planned follow-up trainings could not take place. On the other hand, crisis teams were set up to deal with the pandemic. The training could be used in reality and expertise was built up. That expertise will be taken into account in the follow-up training in the future.
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The Corps of Prison and Court Guard applies special procedures according to the type of large-scale emergency situations (incidents). Such incidents may include, in addition to riot or refusal of assembled inmates to disperse, also other mass unlawful conduct of inmates, a natural disaster or a mass infectious disease. In the mass conflict situations or in the immediate risk of their occurrence, a riot unit is called on alert in particular prison and performs determined tasks. The riot unit consists of a) an operation unit (prison officers intervening with the use of coercive means); b) a group of negotiators (prison officers assigned to non-violently resolve the mass conflict situations); c) a special group (prison officers assigned to obtain and evalluate information about the course of mass conflict situations and persons involved, as well as to secure evidence); d) a bringing in group (prison officers assigned to bring in and escort the persons involved in mass conflict situations after the intervention of the operation group); e) a technical group (prison officers assigned to ensure material-technical conditions of activities of the unit); f) a medical group and g) a closing group (prison officers assigned to secure all access and escape routes from and to the place of operation of the riot unit). If the forces and recourses of the prison are not sufficient for the fulfilment of security tasks, the Prison Governor of the prison concerned shall request the collaboration of the Prison Governor in the catchment area. In case this is not possible, the Prison Governor shall request the collaboration of the General Directorate of the Corps, respectively prisons out of the catchment area. Due this fact, the collaboration trainings of riot units of individual prisons from catchment areas are regularly being carried out.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?The general tasks of the members of the riot unit and the intervention group, the prison management and the tasks of the heads of the individual components/groups of the riot unit are stated in an internal regulation issued by the Director General of the Corps of Prison and Court Guard. This internal regulation also determines the principles of organisation and types of trainings (frequency, content focus and documentation of the training). The training of the riot unit consists mainly of self-defence trainings of assigned prison officers and the mentoring of negotiators, training for trainers of the riot unit, training of the riot unit or some of its groups. Additionally, a joint practical training for all groups of the riot unit is carried out at least once a year in each prison consisting in solving model situations.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?During the 1st wave of pandemic the training activities were suspended. However, at present all training activities are performed again – of course under obliging the generally binding anti-epidemical measures (wearing face masks or other protection indoors; obliging hand hygiene with disinfections; measurement of body temperature, etc.).
In order to solve the emergency situation in the prison, the Latvian Prison Administration (hereinafter – LPA) is taking various measures, that includes the strengthening of the prison security with additional human and technical resources, if necessary, involving the officials from other law enforcement agencies and special units.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?LPA officials, involved in guarding and monitoring of prisons, regularly participate in training, incl. joint training with other law enforcement officials. The LPA Training Centre (hereinafter – the Centre), with an aim to train the LPA staff how to act in crisis situations in prison, implements the qualification development training and the professional continuing education program “Prison Guard” (3rd level professional qualification “Junior Inspector of Prison” allocated), the target audience of which is prison instructors with special service ranks. For example, the Centre training on qualification development (hereinafter – Training) on crisis prevention during emergency cases in prison provides the possibility for the officials to improve their theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the formation of a tactical group, analyse and explain the essential role of psychological training of officials for tactical work group. The officials train for the use of equipment, special means and firearms, the implementation, observing and planning of intelligence, improve their communication skills in crisis situations, as well as strengthen the acquired knowledge by managing a simulated crisis situation as part of a tactical group. The Training “Work with special means, application of special fighting techniques and safety equipment for emergency response” for LPA prison officials with special ranks pays a special attention to the necessity to assess the need to use special means and special fighting techniques, the issues of officials’ responsibility in using special means and special fighting techniques, issues about the officials’ responsibility in applying special means and special fighting techniques and consequences of their illegal use. In practical activities, officials improve their skills to use special means and special fighting techniques in simulated crisis situations which are organized in different environments (indoor, training chambers, firing ground). The LPA officials with special service ranks, who ensure the transfer of prisoners to a medical institution outside the place of imprisonment for the receipt of health care services and the security of prisoners during the receipt of such services, in Training improve their communication skills in crisis management by simulating different types of attack situations (physical attack, attack with a weapon, attack with a piercing or cutting object). By applying special techniques officials improve their skills to repel various types of attacks during the transfer of prisoners and their treatment in medical institution. The curriculum of the Centre professional continuing education program “Prison Guard” has several general educational and professional tasks, in which issues of disasters, crisis situations and emergency situations in prison are considered from different points of view in several subjects. For example, in the subject “Public and Human Security” within the topic “Civil Protection” (duration 4 contact hours), officials get acquainted with different types of disasters, pandemics, actions of officials in cases of various threats and actions in emergency situations. The subjects “Monitoring in Prison” and “Security in Prison” cover the issue on actions in case of emergency (duration 4 contact hours). The subject “Basics of Penitentiary Psychology” deals with the psychological aspects of emergency management, providing the basics of conflictology, discovering and analysing behaviour in extreme situations and providing the professional psychological training for the use of firearm.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?COVID-19 has no essential impact on training. Restrictions are introduced in training processes according with government orders.
Prisons in England and Wales use a Gold, Silver, Bronze (GSB) command framework. This is used to resolve incidents within establishments and used to coordinate the service response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework is based on the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP), which works around the Joint Decision Model (JDM).
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?A Gold Commander training package has been developed and it is now a requirement that all Gold commanders undergo this training. The training is currently being rolled out and delivered to all Gold Commanders from both public and private sector. Silver Commander training has been in place for some time. It is a requirement that all operational managers complete this training before they take up post in a prison. The course has been reviewed and updated to reflect the training given to Gold commanders, using JESIP and the JDM. Bronze Commander training is available to all staff who’s role may require them to be involved in incident resolution. This training is not mandatory. Advanced Control and Restraint (C&R) training is delivered to staff based establishments across the prison estate. This allows the service to deliver a tactical response, through mutual aid, to all serious incidents across the country.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?COVID-19 has had a significant impact on training across the prison estate. As we have moved towards level 2 and a “new normal”, all of the above training has come back on line, subject to risk assessment and the introduction of additional measures, including social distancing and PPE, to ensure that this is delivered safely.
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Affairs in management of crisis and larger incident management are regulated in the “hand-book for crisis management in prison“ which is a binding decree. There are three different kinds of incidents defined: 1. Alarm Alarms are smaller incidents with a danger for security and order that occur only in parts of the prison. 2. Crisis Crisis are incidents that occur in the whole prison and cannot be managed by the usual admin-istration. 3. Catastrophe Catastrophes are incidents that are caused by natural forces (including fire that is caused by humans). According to this classification, the pandemic of COVID-19 is a crisis that occurred in all pris-ons in Austria. Command Framework The command framework in cases of crisis is also defined in the above mentioned handbook. There is an alarm schedule in every prison that includes cooperation with other security agen-cies (police, fire department, etc.). There is also a technical system that provides the systemat-ical alerting of staff (ASJ). The command structure is divided in strategical, operative and tac-tical leading and passes from up to down and includes the involvement of other security agen-cies. Furthermore, there is a framework of civil defence („SKKM“) which regulates the state-wide fight against crisis and catastrophes. This institution operates in large-scaled incidents and coordinates the necessary actions under inclusion of all agencies.
How are prison staff trained in these incident management processes and procedures?Staff is already trained in courses for leading administration (E2a). The basis is the above men-tioned handbook. It is planned that this binding training is also mandatory for beginners (E2b). Leading officers, like commanders of larger areas (Executive Commander, etc.) are trained in special courses.
How has Covid-19 impacted upon the training around incident management and command within prisons – both in terms of the training’s facilitation and its content?The crisis within COVID-19 did not lead to any special rules, as the provided frameworks were already sufficient.