THE PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMEN’S INSPEC TIONS OF REMAND PRISONS 2015–2019 ted a pilot project to increase the ability to offer inmates with restrictions isolation-breaking measures. Previously, inmates allowed to associate with others staffed the remand prison’s work operations (packaging work), but for some time the operations were instead staffed by inmates with restrictions which provided them with the opportunity for some form of meaningful activity or employment. The inmates are taken two by two into the production room where they are allowed to work for two hours. They are separated from one another by a folding wall and can only talk to the staff. In the opinion of representatives of the remand prison, this pilot project means that the remand prison has greater opportunities to achieve the Prison and Probation Service’s objectives for isolation-breaking measures. In a conversation with an inmate who was subject to restrictions, it emerged that he was very positive regarding working in the production facility. It was described as positive that, for example, inmates are allowed to move around the room and are able to lock the toilet door themselves.12 8.3 The Prison and Probation Service’s planning and design of remand prison premises Some of the Prison and Probation Service’s remand prisons have association departments where inmates can associate with one other during the day. A association department in a remand prison is usually designed like a department in a prison. Other remand prisons have association places. An inmate who is placed there is provided with the opportunity to access a special communal space together with other inmates for a number of hours per day. A association place can, if necessary, also 12 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report dnr O 26-2019 p. 5. 8 function as a restriction place. This place can therefore be adapted based on the needs the remand prison has depending on how many inmates at any given time are subject to restrictions. When reporting back in June 2018, the Prison and Probation Service stated that the single most decisive reason why inmates are not provided with the opportunity to associate together is that its remand prisons’ premises are limited in their design. The number of remand prison places with access to appropriate communal spaces does not correspond to the needs. The consequence of this is that inmates cannot be offered periods of association with one another to the desired extent. Furthermore, the heavy remand prison population pressure has made it increasingly difficult for the agency to relocate inmates without restrictions to association places. In reporting back, the Prison and Probation Service outlined a number of maintenance projects for its premises, and, by the end of 2018, the Prison and Probation Service planned to have opened a total of 161 new places for inmates without restrictions. Of these, 88 places are located in units with special association departments.13 The fact that remand prison premises, in many cases, constitute a limitation in the Prison and Probation Service’s ability to offer inmates appropriate association was also noted during the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s inspections. An inspection of Kronoberg Remand Prison in January 2017 revealed that the remand prison lacked any association departments. At the time, an extensive renovation of the remand prison was underway. The report contains the following description: 13 See the Prison and Probation Service’s statement on 14 June 2018, the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report dnr 416-2017. – 45 –