UK Armed Forces Service Custody Facilities – a coherent and professional approach to detainee care
The UK’s Armed Forces Service Custody Facilities (SCFs) continue to provide “extremely good” treatment of the detainees they hold, according to an inspection carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in December 2021. The Inspectorate has been invited, since 2013, to inspect these short-term custodial facilities where service personnel are detained for up to 96 hours pending charge or conviction for service offences, or for up to 14 days if convicted of a service offence. As with its inspections of other areas of detention, the Inspectorate focused on the outcomes for detainees, as measured against independent Expectations criteria.
The main findings were:
- all the detainees spoken to felt safe and treated respectfully
- the 14 hours a day they spent unlocked was among the best seen in any custodial environment inspected
- detainees under sentence received a full programme of activities, including military training, personal coaching and physical exercise
- the physical conditions were generally adequate to good, but the cramped and outdated facilities at SCF North (Catterick) lacked privacy and were unsuitable, and the cells everywhere were “unnecessarily austere”, with a light
left on at night - staff were sometimes overly cautious, with excessive observation at night and repeated searching of detainees.
Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said that the rationalisation of the facilities to be Army-based and operated solely by specialist custody trained staff from the Military Provost Staff (MPS) Regiment: “…had addressed the operational, procedural and cultural differences between the SCFs that we were critical of at our last inspection. We found a more coherent approach in both policy and practice, and the benefits from clear leadership that was linked to the Military Corrective Training Centre”.
He added: “We were impressed by the care, professionalism and commitment of custody staff we met during the inspection”.
The inspection report addressed some other concerns, including the need to reinstate regular independent service custody visitors and to update the joint service policy and practice on detention matters, as well as to improve the quality of records on detainees.
Mr Taylor concluded that: “The clear management oversight that is now in place and the commitment to the professionalisation of dedicated custody staff gave us confidence for the future”.
Notes to editors
1. Read the HM Service Custody Facilities report, published on 5 April 2022.
2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places
of detention to report on conditions and treatment and promote positive
outcomes for those detained and the public.
3. Inspectors visited all five of the SCFs currently licensed for use in the UK,
based at Army barracks in Stafford, Catterick, Aldergrove, Edinburgh and
Bulford; these had rationalised the 11 facilities operated by the Royal Navy,
British Army and Royal Air Force at the previous inspection in 2017.
4. The inspection took place from 6–10 December.
5. Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.