A Blog By Natalie Hill, Independent Custody Visitor. – Getting changed in the bathroom after work. – Having a snack before you leave (you could be out a while!). – Getting home during the early hours of the morning. These are just a handful of things that a night out with your friends in your twenties can have in common with being an Independent Custody Visitor (ICV). However, there is one big difference – as an ICV, I am able to give back to my local community and make a difference to the lives of others! I am 26 years […]

It’s been a little while since I have blogged, been a little while since I have been in custody too, so I was really pleased to have been invited along to Basingstoke Police Investigation Centre, (PIC), to shadow a shift of a Custody Nurse. I have shadowed Custody Sergeants, DDOs, the inspectorate and ICVs in custody, and so was really pleased to learn more about the healthcare a detainee can receive whilst in custody, and also to hang out in custody for a while. We at ICVA write a lot about how things in custody should or could be, and […]

PUBLICATION OF NPM NINTH ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 The NPM’s Ninth Annual Report was published on 29 January 2019. It gives an overview of the inspection and monitoring findings of the NPM’s 21 member organisations, who work across all places of detention in the UK. The report highlights concerns about the safety of detainees and improper use of restraint on vulnerable detainees. The publication of the report comes ahead of the NPM’s 10th anniversary on 31 March 2019 and a year of scrutiny of the UK by the Committee against Torture in its periodic review of the UK followed by a visit from […]

Independent custody visitors (ICVs) have a difficult job – they go into police custody to check on the rights, entitlements and wellbeing of detainees.  Their scheme managers, one in each police force area, use their reports to praise good work and to make change when they need to.  Making change is not easy, but this huge team of custody visitings and dedicated managers make improvements to police custody.  The least that we can do, as ICVA, is to highlight this. ICVs will speak to at least 5,000 detainees each quarter and these quarterly updates reflect their findings.  This is hugely […]

It’s 5pm on a sunny Friday in Crawley and I’ve walked into the cell block to be booked in for the next 17 hours. I’m asked to stand in front of the desk and the Sergeant goes through my personal details, questions me about any medical issues, then takes my phone and keys for safe keeping. He gives me a leaflet which I save to read later. Next to me is a male shouting and swearing, with four officers trying to calm him down. He isn’t happy, as he says he was only released yesterday morning and now he’s back. […]