APPENDIX Dnr O 7-2018 departments. As a rule, the Prison and Probation Service does not have any difficulty in satisfying the rights of association of inmates who are placed in an association department or in an association remand prison. Since the proportion of inmates with restrictions varies over time, the Prison and Probation Service also has a need for more flexible cells that can be used for the placement of both inmates with restrictions and inmates without restrictions. This flexibility means that such a cell can be transformed from one day to another, from being a restriction place to becoming a place for inmates who are allowed association with other inmates. In order for this transformation to have any significance for the inmate who is placed in the cell, a remand prison must have access to communal spaces as well as sufficient staffing levels required for inmates to be able to associate with one another outside their cells during the day. Segregation can lead to an inmate being isolated. According to the UN minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (the so-called Nelson Mandela rules), an inmate is considered to be in solitary confinement if he or she is alone for more than 22 hours per day, without meaningful human contact. An inmate is considered being pro-longed solitary confinement if he or she has stayed in such conditions for a period exceeding 15 days.7 I would like to emphasise that isolation is therefore not a synonym for segregation. When I continue to use the term isolation, I mean the far-reaching limitations of inmates' ability to socialise with other people which can lead to mental health problems or physical illness, and which therefore are regarded as forbidden. Isolation can affect all categories of inmates, regardless of whether they are formally segregated or have a legal right of association with other inmates. Isolation can have serious consequences for inmates Isolation can lead to an inmate being affected by, for example, insomnia, confusion, hallucinations and psychosis. Isolation need not last for a long time for an inmate to risk such consequences. Negative health effects can occur after just a few days in isolation, and the risks increase with each and every passing day. The most harmful element of isolation is that it reduces social contacts to a level of social and psychological stimulus that many perceive as being insufficient in maintaining their health and well-being. How different inmates 7 See Rule 44 in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. – 85 – Page 4 (21) C