The use of pepper gas and other irritants should satisfy the following tests:51 • Last resort (were other measures, for example closing the cell door, tried?); • Safe (unsafe use includes deployment in confined spaces and use at point blank range); • Appropriate justification (to prevent serious harm, rather than to enforce orders or prevent self-harm); and • Least force necessary. A case-by-case analysis of the documentation provided to this review has not reassured me that these tests were met in the majority of uses. Of the 24 recorded uses of pepper spray in women’s prisons in 2019, it was used: • 14 times to stop a fight; • 3 times in response to a woman activating the sprinkler in her cell; • 3 times with women who refused to relocate to another cell; • 3 times for refusing an order or ‘non-compliance’; and • 2 times in response to abusive or threatening behaviour (one incident was fairly serious). It is of note that some of these uses are specifically listed by the United Nations Office of the Commissioners for Human Rights as potentially unlawful: “Chemical irritants should not be used in situations of purely passive resistance. In accordance with the principle of necessity, once a person is already under the control of a law enforcement official, no further use of a chemical irritant will be lawful. Chemical irritants should not be used in closed environments without adequate ventilation or where there is no viable exit, owing to the risk of death or serious injury from asphyxiation”.52 50 51 See Prison Reform Trust as above and Nelson Mandela Rule 82: “Prison staff shall not, in their relations with the prisoners, use force except in self-defence or in cases of attempted escape, or active or passive physical resistance to an order based on law or regulations. Prison staff who have recourse to force must use no more than is strictly necessary and must report the incident immediately to the prison director. Prison staff shall be given special physical training to enable them to restrain aggressive prisoners.” See also Mandela Rule 76 which stipulates that staff training shall include, as a minimum, training on: “c) Security and safety, including the concept of dynamic security, the use of force and instruments of restraint, and the management of violent offenders, with due consideration of preventive and defusing techniques, such as negotiation and mediation.” 52 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) (2020) Guidance on less- lethal weapons in law enforcement, United Nations, Geneva. At section 7.2.7.