SUMMARY Probation Service’s objective in this part is modest in comparison with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) standard. The CPT holds the view that all inmates in prisons and remand prisons must be provided with the opportunity to spend at least eight hours outside their cell every day. The Prison and Probation Service’s annual report for 2018 states that the agency did not succeed in reaching the objective of at least two hours of human contact per inmate per day in relation to 83 per cent of the inmates who were held on remand with restrictions imposed. The agency did not reach this target in relation to 76 per cent of young inmates who were held on remand with restrictions imposed. The corresponding figure for adult inmates who were held without restrictions imposed nor had any decisions on segregation imposed upon them – and who have a legal right of association during the day – was 33 per cent. These inmates are isolated and at risk of mental and physical illness. In her decision in February 2020, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman states that the international investigations of Swedish remand prisons have primarily focused on the widespread use of restrictions. The review that the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman has performed shows that the problem of isolation in remand prisons is not limited to those inmates who the Prison and Probation Service has the right to keep in isolation. Isolation also risks affecting inmates who have a legal right of association. The Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman states that this situation has not suddenly arisen as Sweden has received international criticism for keeping inmates isolated for several decades. In addition, these shortcomings have been highlighted by the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman on several occasions. For this reason, it is – in the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman – very serious that the Prison and Probation Service has not progressed further in its work in reaching its objectives on the use of isolation-breaking measures. This entails the risk of serious consequences for those held in the Prison and Probation Service’s remand prisons. –9– 1