SUMMARY Foreword For almost 30 years, Sweden has repeatedly received international criticism for the long periods which individuals are held on remand and the widespread use of restrictions. Restrictions pose the risk of inmates being isolated. In turn, isolation can lead to individuals suffering from both mental and physical illness. Through inspections, the Parliamentary Ombudsmen has repeatedly noted and raised awareness of the situation for inmates in the care of the Prison and Probation Service. Upon my request, a series of Opcat inspections were performed in 2017 to investigate how the Prison and Probation Service works with issues such as reducing isolation for inmates held in Swedish remand prisons. Following the inspections, I requested that the Prison and Probation Service report back on the measures taken by the agency to ensure the ability to follow the isolation-breaking work over time. Based on the information received in the Prison and Probation Service’s reporting back, I decided to continue the review in the form of an owninitiative inquiry. In March 2019, I had a dialogue meeting with representatives of the Prison and Probation Service. The overall purpose of the meeting was to obtain details of which measures the Prison and Probation Service is taking to reduce the isolation of inmates in remand prisons. In February 2020, I arrived at my decision in the matter. In addition to details of the decision in the own-initiative inquiry, this report additionally contains a description of the Prison and Probation Service’s work with isolation-breaking measures, as well as observations from the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s inspections of remand prisons in the period 2015–2019. Unfortunately, it is with regret that I must state that the extensive international criticism directed at Sweden does not seem to have had any significant impact on the degree of isolation of inmates. The Prison and Probation Service’s analysis and measuring of isolation-breaking measures from 2018 shows that 83 per cent of those held with restrictions were deemed to be –3– 1