Report of the IAPDC’s cross sector restraint deaths workshop

In March 2010, the IAP working group on the use of physical restraint, led by Professor Richard Shepherd, presented a number of recommendations to the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody, which were supported by Board members.

One of the recommendations was to hold a workshop, which brought together representatives from across the custodial estate to explore the use of physical restraint. In order to ensure that a sufficient focus was given to the complex medical and legal issues surrounding the use of restraint, a number of medical and legal practitioners were also invited to attend.

This report provides an overview of each custodial sector’s policies and guidance around the use of physical restraint. It also provides a summary of the key discussions from the day, which followed three general themes: training and restraint techniques; the collation and analysis of statistics on the use of restraint and sharing the learning from restraint related deaths. The report also contains a series of recommendations, which the IAP hope will contribute to the prevention of restraint related deaths in the future.