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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: PAVA (Pelargonic Acid Vanillyamide) spray has been rolled out in the adult male prison estate in England, and consideration is being given as to whether to roll this out into the Young Offender Institutes (YOIs) in England. Young Offender Institutes in England are prisons which manage large numbers of children and young people (age 15 to 18 years of age). Staff in YOIs are trained in use of force techniques. However, this is not always sufficient to allow for safe intervention in serious multi-perpetrator assaults. There has been a significant increase in incidents where local staff have not had the capability to safely and timely respond and have required support from national response units. PAVA is already available for use in Young Offender Institutes during serious incidents by operatives from the Operational Response and Resilience Unit (ORRU). ORRU are a national response team supporting prisons during serious incidents. PAVA rollout in YOIs would provide staff with a safe distance control measure to respond to incidents of a serious nature, sometimes with multi-perpetrator violence, as PAVA has an effective working range of up to four metres. Equipping local staff with PAVA would enable a safe, timely intervention where staff can maintain distance whilst dealing with individuals and/or multiple assailants. This is not achievable with any other intervention.
no
Do you have PAVA in your establishments which hold children and young people in custody? Do you have data on usage? If not, what equipment and/or training is provided to staff working in prisons/facilities holding children to respond to acts of violence?no
Do you have PAVA in your establishments which hold children and young people in custody? Do you have data on usage? If not, what equipment and/or training is provided to staff working in prisons/facilities holding children to respond to acts of violence?This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
yes
Do you have PAVA in your establishments which hold children and young people in custody? Do you have data on usage?No
If not, what equipment and/or training is provided to staff working in prisons/facilities holding children to respond to acts of violence?Staff working in a juvenile prison are provided with and trained in the use of special equipment, moreover, they have trainings on stress management, violence prevention, self-defence, response to emergencies.
yes
Do you have PAVA in your establishments which hold children and young people in custody? Do you have data on usage?In Latvia there is Cesis Correctional Institution for Juveniles - for juvenile male prisoners and Ilguciema Prison for juvenile female prisoners. No, in Latvian prisons for juveniles PAVA is not used.
If not, what equipment and/or training is provided to staff working in prisons/facilities holding children to respond to acts of violence?Latvian prison officials have the right to use physical force, special fighting techniques and special means. At the same time, it should be noted that legal acts prohibit the official from using physical force, special fighting techniques and special means (except for handcuffs) against juveniles, except in cases when they participate in a group attack, show armed resistance or threaten the health or life of the official or other persons. Mostly, in daily work, if juvenile prisoners are involved in a conflict situation or behave violently, provocatively, do not obey the legal demands of the officials, the officials try to solve this situation with the help of words (dialogue). In Latvia, the practice of using aggressive restraining methods against juvenile prisoners has not been developed, on the contrary, there is a lot of communication with juveniles (thereby minimizing violent manifestations). Normative acts provide that officials in Latvian prisons have the right to use special means, for example: binding means, handcuffs, truncheons, electric shock devices, gas sprays, but the use of any special means must have a legitimate purpose. It should be noted that tear-inducing substances (i.e. gas sprays) have not been used against juvenile prisoners in Latvia in recent years. Prison officials in Latvia are trained to use special means and special fighting techniques (the officials take theoretical and practical tests).
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The Belgian Prison service is not responsible for minors. We cannot answer the questions below.
If not, what equipment and/or training is provided to staff working in prisons/facilities holding children to respond to acts of violence?This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.