Hello one and all! It’s truly an honour and a privilege to be ICVA’s new CEO. I am just over three weeks into the role, and I want to use my first blog to share my reflections so far and outline some of my immediate priorities. Firstly, a bit about me. I’ve vast amounts to […]

ICVA Volunteers across the UK given opportunity to influence United Nations anti-torture committee report In 2019, the United Nations Committee responsible for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment in detention visited the UK for the first time in its history. This gave independent custody visitors and me the opportunity to show the UN delegation UK […]

This LGBTQ+ History Month, ICVA is delighted to be hosting a guest blog from an independent custody visitor from the Sussex scheme. This is, in particular, to celebrate Joanne’s OBE award and her services to transgender equality for detainees, please read on to hear from Joanne herself. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT AND BEYOND David was […]

COVID-19 forced the criminal justice system, like all areas of life, to adapt. Police custody could not stop and so had to find ways to adapt working to reduce risk of transmission and keep staff, detainees and visitors as safe as possible. Independent custody visitors (ICVs) continued to monitor custody throughout the pandemic, whether through […]

In Derbyshire, we developed and continue to operate the Custody Record Reviewing (CRR) process, and really value the wealth of data it provides. For those ICVA members not familiar with the CRR, I have developed a simple flowchart outlining the process in detail in the members library- please do take a look if it is […]