Lincolnshire Police slated over quality of its cells and mental health provision.
By Liz Lockhart
A report from prison and force watchdogs said that there were ‘numerous ligature points’ in cells and mental health provision was ‘extremely poor’ in Lincolnshire stations.
A report on thisislincolnshire.co.uk says that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and the HM Inspector of Constabulary visited the custody cells in Lincoln, Skegness, Boston, Grantham and Spalding.
These visits were unexpected and took place while Lincolnshire’s force was going through a programme of change in response to huge Government spending cuts.
The report said that the process had led to weaknesses in management. Chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick said ‘Overall, this is a disappointing inspection’.
It came at a time when the force was undergoing significant change which perhaps helped explain why we identified continued failings that had previously been identified by other external bodies.’
The report was particularly damning of mental health provision which it said was extremely poor and in too many cases police stations were used as places of safety under the Mental Health Act, rather than detainees being taken to community provision.
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