Circular No. 31/2016/TT-BCA on the work of Correctional Police at compulsory educational facilities

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the work of Custodial Police at compulsory educational facilities

Pursuant to the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012;

Pursuant to Decree No. 02/2014/NĐ-CP dated January 10, 2014 stipulating the regime for applying and enforcing administrative measures involving placement in educational institutions and compulsory educational facilities;

Pursuant to Decree No. 106/2014/NĐ-CP dated November 17, 2014, stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Public Security;

At the proposal of the Director General of the Department of Criminal Investigation and Enforcement and Judicial Assistance;

The Minister of Public Security issues this Circular regulating the work of Custodial Police at compulsory educational facilities.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular stipulates the standards for Custodial Police, inspection, training, deployment, equipment, working conditions, and duties and powers in managing and educating inmates at compulsory educational facilities by Custodial Police at such facilities (hereinafter referred to as Custodial Police).

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to:

1. Management authority of compulsory educational facilities.

2. Custodial Police.

3. Compulsory educational facility.

4. Inmate of a compulsory educational facility (hereinafter referred to as inmate).

5. Agencies, individuals, organizations related to the work of Custodial Police.

Article 3. Prohibited acts

1. Matters that People's Public Security officers may not engage in.

2. Borrowing, lending, requesting, purchasing, selling, exchanging, or accepting money or gifts from inmates and their relatives in any form.

3. Initiating personal contact with the relatives of inmates without authorization. In cases where contact with the relatives of inmates is necessary for management and education purposes, it must be approved by the Director of the compulsory educational facility (hereinafter referred to as Director) and conducted in the visiting room within the visiting house.

4. Allowing inmates to use communication devices contrary to regulations, storing or using prohibited items during the management period.

5. Engaging in speech or behavior that harms the health, life, dignity, discriminates against, or persecutes inmates; disclosing private information about inmates in violation of regulations.

6. Altering records or documents related to inmates; using inmates for personal purposes.

Article 4. Standards for Custodial Police

1. Must be a person with good political qualities, familiar with the Party's guidelines and State policies, and knowledgeable in specialized fields.

2. Graduated from a police or security college or another relevant field at the associate degree level or higher. In cases where graduates come from non-Public Security colleges, they must complete vocational security or police training courses.

Article 5. Inspection and Training of Custodial Police

Every two years, Custodial Police must participate in inspections and training on legal knowledge, psychology, education, and police operations organized by the Director. The inspection and training program shall be implemented according to the regulations of the Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Assistance General Police Corps.

Article 6. Deployment of Custodial Police

1. Each compulsory educational facility shall organize a Custodial Police Team headed by a Team Leader, and if the facility has multiple zones, each zone shall establish a Custodial Police Group headed by an Assistant Team Leader.

2. Based on the standards set forth in Article 4 of this Circular and the requirements of inmate management and education, the Director shall decide on the appropriate deployment of personnel as Custodial Police.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Section 1

 DUTIES AND POWERS OF CUSTODIAL POLICE AT COMPULSORY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES

Article 7. Management of inmates

1. When receiving inmates to the team or inmate camp, the Correctional Police must perform the following tasks:

a) Review files and have inmates write their autobiographies;

b) Familiarize themselves with the physical characteristics of the inmates, including face, gait, and voice;

c) Familiarize themselves with the full name, birth name, and alias of the inmates;

d) Familiarize themselves with the background, criminal behavior of the inmates, including: place of origin, permanent address, occupation of parents, siblings, spouse, children, other relatives, personal activity history, reasons, circumstances, conditions of violation;

đ) Familiarize themselves with the ideological trends, viewpoints, lifestyle, and attitude towards decisions and compliance with decisions of the inmates.

2. Establish a summary file for each inmate, regularly update information and documents related to the process of implementing compulsory educational measures for inmates, and manage the files according to regulations.

3. Coordinate with Protective and Mobile Police and other specialized teams to develop and implement plans to prevent and respond to sudden situations, riots, destruction of compulsory educational facilities, attacks on the health, life, honor, and dignity of staff and other inmates; prevent inmates from escaping or committing violations of the Internal Regulations of compulsory educational facilities; prevent external attackers from attacking and disrupting compulsory educational facilities; ensure the safety of compulsory educational facilities in all situations.

4. Coordinate with specialized teams to draw up diagrams and arrange sleeping areas for inmates according to operational requirements, classification regulations, and regularly inspect and guide inmates to comply with regulations.

5. Closely monitor the situation of the inmate team, promptly identify, prevent, and resolve complex signs in accordance with legal provisions. Each week, Correctional Police must spend at least four hours reviewing inmate files to support management and education activities.

6. When receiving information provided by inmates, it must be recorded in the work log, immediately reported to unit leadership about security conditions at compulsory educational facilities, and kept confidential, only providing information upon request from unit leadership.

Article 8. Education of Inmates

1. Develop weekly, monthly, and quarterly education plans for the inmate team and individual inmates, suitable to the nature of the violation, duration of implementation, personal characteristics, and ideological trends of the inmates.

2. Guide inmates to register for competitions; organize and implement competition movements among inmates.

3. Organize inspections and supervision of inmates' compliance with internal regulations and rules of compulsory educational facilities.

4. Proactively study and explain to inmates relevant legal provisions concerning administrative penalties leading to compulsory educational measures; coordinate with educational staff to organize for inmates to listen to current affairs, policies, legal education, civic education, cultural, artistic, sports activities, reading books, listening to the radio, watching television according to regulations.

5. Meet with inmates at least twice a week to understand their ideological trends, promptly encourage, advise, and educate them to comply with decisions to enter compulsory educational facilities; pay attention to visiting and encouraging sick inmates or those with special circumstances. Each month, Correctional Police must provide education and counseling to eight or more inmates.

6. Monthly, quarterly, or when required, guide inmates to write self-critiques (based on competition regulations for inmates), self-assess their academic, labor, and training results, state their goals for improvement, and self-rate their competition level during the evaluation period; if the inmate cannot write due to illiteracy or illness, another inmate can write it, read it back to the inmate, and the inmate must sign off on the critique with the Correctional Police's signature confirming its accuracy.

Article 9. Organizing labor, vocational training, and career guidance for inmates

1. To take the lead and coordinate with relevant units to develop plans, targets, standards, and organize labor and vocational training for inmates in accordance with regulations.

2. To educate inmates to enhance their awareness of complying with regulations on safety, hygiene at work, environmental protection, and other related regulations; to guide and inspect the use of protective equipment by inmates.

3. To propose additional food allowances for inmates engaged in heavy and hazardous labor in accordance with legal provisions; to propose rewards for inmates who exceed targets, standards, and plans or make technical improvements.

4. To manage and use assets, equipment, and means effectively in accordance with regulations; to utilize the results of labor in accordance with regulations.

5. To proactively coordinate with responsible staff to implement career guidance and vocational training for inmates in accordance with regulations; to organize supplementary production activities to improve the living conditions of inmates upon approval by the Director.

Article 10. Powers of Correctional Police

1. To apply specialized measures in accordance with laws and regulations of the Ministry of Public Security to manage and educate inmates.

2. To coordinate with the Mobile and Protective Police Team and other investigative teams to detect and prevent violations of laws and internal rules of compulsory educational facilities; to inspect letters and gifts of inmates; to monitor the content of inmates' telephone conversations in accordance with Decree No. 02/2014/NĐ-CP dated January 10, 2014 on the application and enforcement of administrative sanctions in educational institutions and compulsory educational facilities.

3. To develop plans and coordinate with investigative teams in managing and educating inmates.

4. To proactively coordinate, propose, and participate in meetings to review and recommend changes in classification levels and organizational management of inmates; to classify compliance with decisions to enter compulsory educational facilities, to recommend reductions in time periods, temporary suspensions, or exemptions from remaining administrative sanction periods for inmates.

5. To coordinate with investigative teams to propose rewards, disciplinary actions, extensions of disciplinary actions, and reductions in disciplinary action durations for inmates within their teams.

6. To coordinate with investigative teams to propose rewards, disciplinary actions, extensions of disciplinary actions, and reductions in disciplinary action durations for inmates within their teams.

Article 11. Implementation of Management and Education of Inmates in Compulsory Educational Facilities

1. Fifteen minutes before receiving inmates for labor or study, correctional police must grasp the situation, check internal order, and cooperate with medical staff to allow sick inmates to rest from labor or study.

2. When taking inmates for labor or study, correctional police must sign off on the inmate handover book, directly return inmates to the management area after work hours, hand over to the duty officer of the compulsory educational facility, and sign the inmate handover book. Any removal of inmates from the management area outside regular working hours requires written approval from the Director.

3. During labor organization, correctional police must arrange mobile and protective police to accompany and supervise when leading inmate teams to labor sites according to plans stipulated in Clause 3, Article 7 of this Circular. At the end of labor or in emergencies, correctional police must gather inmates, take attendance, and conduct a headcount before handing them over to the duty officer of the compulsory educational facility.

4. During the organization of labor, study, and cultural, artistic, physical, and sports activities, correctional police may not leave their posts without permission. If required by the Director or for legitimate reasons, they must communicate with mobile and protective police; if mobile and protective police cannot manage and supervise inmates, they must return the inmate team to the management area.

5. When guiding inmates in labor, study, or daily activities and visitors or superiors arrive, correctional police must instruct the inmate team to stand or sit in place, salute according to the People's Public Security Regulations, report the number of inmates and ongoing activities.

6. Every Friday and the 25th of each month (or the day before if it falls on Saturday, Sunday, holidays, or Tet), correctional police must spend two hours at the end of the day guiding the inmate team in activities, self-assessment, evaluation of performance, classification of compliance with legal decisions, and discussing future plans.

7. If inmates violate internal rules of the compulsory educational facility, correctional police must prepare a record, report to the Command of the Correctional Police Team, and inform the Director; simultaneously, they must cooperate with investigative teams to temporarily detain items used in violations, record statements from violators and related parties, and propose legal penalties.

8. On holidays, weekends, and outside working hours, if assigned, correctional police must be on duty to manage and maintain activities of inmates and receive compensatory rest as regulated.

9. Two months before the completion of the decision to enter the compulsory educational facility, correctional police must coordinate with education and file officers to propose that the Director organize community reintegration programs for inmates; notify the county public security agency, commune people's committee where the inmate resides, and family members or relatives about the inmate's release date from the compulsory educational facility at least fifteen days before the end of the sanction period.

10. On the day the detainee leaves the compulsory educational facility, the Prison Police shall cooperate with the responsible staff of the compulsory educational facility to complete procedures for detainees who have fully executed the decision on placement in the compulsory educational facility, return their documents, belongings, money, and other assets that they had deposited, provide financial support from the community integration support fund to those who have fully executed the decision on placement in the compulsory educational facility, provide one set of regular clothing (if the detainee does not have any clothes), and provide travel fare and food expenses during the journey back to their place of residence or workplace as prescribed.

Article 12. Reporting System

1. Every day, the Prison Police must update information on the labor and study results of the detainee teams and individual detainees under their supervision in the monitoring book and report to the Head of the Prison Police Team; if the compulsory educational facility has production zones, they must report to the Head of the Prison Police Group.

In cases where incidents occur beyond the authority of the Head of the Prison Police Team to resolve, the Head of the Prison Police Team shall be responsible for reporting to the Director.

2. Weekly, monthly, quarterly, every six months, and annually, the Prison Police must write reports on the management and education work of detainees under their supervision to the Head of the Prison Police Team. The Head of the Prison Police Team shall be responsible for compiling and reporting to the Director.

3. When the Prison Police go on official business, take leave, or are sick, they must hand over the management of the detainee team situation to the assigned replacement staff (with a handover record attached; if the absence is long-term or involves a transfer to another position, they must hand over all assets, monitoring books, and related documents of the detainee team and individual detainees to the assigned replacement staff).

Section 2

EQUIPMENT AND WORKING CONDITIONS FOR PRISON POLICE AT COMPULSORY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES

POLICE DISCIPLINE IN COMPULSORY EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENTS

Article 13. Equipment and working conditions for Prison Police

1. Prison Police shall be provided with military weapons, auxiliary tools, books, and monitoring materials for tracking the execution of decisions on placement in compulsory educational facilities by detainees; they shall be allocated offices for work, desks, chairs, cabinets for storing books and materials, and other means to serve the management, education, vocational guidance, and training of detainees according to the provisions of the law.

2. For detainees working in workshops, Prison Police shall be provided with an office measuring at least 6 square meters within the workshop area of the compulsory educational facility.

3. For agricultural, forestry, aquaculture, or other outdoor work detainees on fixed areas, they shall be provided with a minimum of 40 square meters of workspace for the living activities of the detainee teams, implementation of detainee education, storage of tools, products of detainee labor, and other assets.

Article 14. Funding for the work of Prison Police

The funding for the work of Prison Police at compulsory educational facilities shall be implemented according to the provisions of Article 5 of Decree No. 02/2014/NĐ-CP. The General Bureau of Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Assistance shall be responsible for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts according to the State Budget Law and guiding documents.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 15. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from August 25, 2016.

Article 16. Responsibility for Implementation

1. The General Bureau of Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Assistance shall be responsible for guiding, urging, and inspecting the implementation of this Circular.

2. The Heads of the Directly Subordinate General Bureaus, Directors of Public Security Departments, Directors of Fire Prevention and Fighting Departments of provinces and centrally-administered cities, and relevant organizations and individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.

During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, local public security units shall report to the Ministry of Public Security (through the General Bureau of Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Assistance) for timely guidance.