Police 'should provide treadmill'

By Vincent Kearney
BBC Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent

Inspectors suggest that detainees have access to a treadmill

People detained by police for longer than 36 hours should have access to an exercise treadmill, a Criminal Justice Inspection report has suggested.

The report said the police should consider installing a machine at Antrim Police Station which is used to question suspects about serious crimes.

Immigration detainees are also held at the station.

The inspectors said overall standards were acceptable but they made 12 recommendations for improvement.

The suggestion that police should consider installing a treadmill at the station comes three months after Human Rights Commissioner Monica McWilliams criticised the facilities there.

Acceptable

She said conditions were "completely inappropriate for lengthy detentions," and that suspects were not getting enough exercise.

The Criminal Justice Inspection report said 21 police custody suites examined were of an acceptable standard for short periods of time.

But it said concerns were raised about exercise facilities at Antrim and suggested the installation of a treadmill for all those held for more than 36 hours.

The inspectors said greater efforts should be made in all of the custody suites to cater for diverse backgrounds and cultural differences.

They pointed out that no copies of the Qu'ran or other religious texts were available and that there were no directional arrows pointing to Mecca.

The report also called on the police to review the costs of providing forensic medical services for detainees.

The PSNI spent £3.5m last year, more than 50% higher than the West Midlands Police who dealt with four times more detainees.