Last week I was very happy to attend the annual National Preventive Mechanism Conference in Cardiff. The United Kingdom National Preventive Mechanism (UKNPM) was established in March 2009 after the UK ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in December 2003. It is […]

Menopause in Police Custody: Progress in establishing a new referral pathway and sharing of good practice in NPM. The menopause is a natural, hormonal transition, and yet only now is the understanding of symptoms and impact of those symptoms beginning to be more widely understood and acknowledged in society, but what awareness and care is […]

ICVA is delighted to announce that a new, permanent Chair has been appointed at the Board of Directors. Dame Anne Owers joins ICVA from her most recent tenure as the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board. Dame Anne has an incredible career throughout the Criminal Justice System, most recently as the first non-executive National Chair […]

ICVA surveys schemes about important issues in custody visiting on a monthly basis. This month ICVA has focussed on measuring the impact that Sussex OPCC, with assistance from ICVA, along with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and College of Policing (CoP) have had in their work on lighting levels in custody. This report gives […]

ICVA is delighted today to release the interim evaluation into a joint pilot with Dyfed Powys Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys. ICVA has undertaken a thematic review of the use of anti-rip clothing in police custody having noted the frequency with which it was reported as an […]

The below blog is a brief interview with two wonderful ICVs from the Cleveland scheme who discuss their experience of bringing along their service dog Kelly on visits. We would like to thank them for their contribution to the scheme and custody visiting as a whole and for their time to write this lovely blog […]