Free sanitary products to be made available to detainees held in police custody
Female detainees will be entitled to free sanitary products when they are held at police stations.
In one of the last acts of Theresa May’s premiership, from August 21 custody officers will be required to ask female detainees if they need any menstrual products which will be provided for free of charge.
In a written statement, Home Office minister Nick Hurd said the changes were prompted by concerns raised by the Independent Custody Visiting Association that in some cases women were being left “without basic menstrual products in police cells”.
From next month, those held in custody will also be able to retain their own menstrual products, with any decision to withhold products being subject to a “further specific risk assessment”.
The provisions around health, hygiene and welfare products will also take into account the needs of transgender detainees.
The changes to the code set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 – or PACE – also require strip searches and intimate searches of detainees to consider “due regard of their dignity”.
Police cells subject to CCTV monitoring will also require privacy in the toilet area, with detainees made aware of this when they are placed in a cell.
In a statement, Mr Hurd also thanked the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper for her role in bringing about the changes.
Mr Hurd continued: “We all share a commitment to ensuring the dignity of detainees, and these changes will help ensure the needs of individuals are met across the board.”
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