CLEVELAND Police’s custody suites have been praised for their focus on safe detention but concerns have been raised over the ‘unacceptably’ high number of prisoners with mental health issues held in cells and use of force.

A report has been published following an unannounced visit between December 8 and 12 last year by Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary.

They found that most cases were progressed promptly, ensuring that detainees did not remain in custody for a long time and the quality of care, staffing levels and skill sets were appropriate.

The force’s Redcar suite has closed since the last inspection in May 2011 but two remain at Hartlepool and Middlesbrough which is still one of the largest in the country.

Data provided by the police service indicated a 50 per cent reduction in cases where police cells were used as a place of safety for people with mental ill health under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

While this was a significant improvement, the 132 people held under section 136 was still unacceptably high, it said in the 46-page document.

It also criticised the force for its excessive use of handcuffing suspects in the custody suite.

“Most detainees who arrived in handcuffs had them removed promptly on arrival, however, despite this observation, we also saw situations when handcuffs were used inappropriately. Several operational officers told us they thought handcuffing detainees was a mandatory requirement of the Cleveland police, when it was not,” the report said.

It also found that there was little monitoring of the numbers of children who needed local authority accommodation and more needed to be done to ensure children were not kept in cells overnight.

Mr Hardwick said: “Overall our inspection found that Cleveland police’s senior management team was focused on ensuring detention was safe by establishing partnership arrangements with other organisations that provided detainees, especially those with mental ill health, with appropriate care.

"However, more could have been done in conjunction with local authorities to promote the welfare of children."

Assistant Chief Constable at Cleveland Police, Simon Nickless said: “The report is largely positive although it does make some recommendations for improvement.

“In particular it identifies that there is still some work to do with those people detained under the Mental Health Act. Significant improvements have been made with partners to identify the most appropriate place of safety for those individuals and this has seen a large reduction in the number of people being brought into custody under the Act rather than taken to hospital.

“Overall, the report identifies that the force is focussed on keeping people safe whilst detained which is a primary responsibility of the staff that work in custody."