APPENDIX
Dnr O 7-2018 Page 20 (21)
my opinion it is insufficient that a more detailed meaning is only stated in the
Prison and Probation Service's own regulations, which is currently the case for
inmates in prisons. Additionally, it is unacceptable that there are no such
provisions at all for remand prisons. As such, this has led to inmates, in some
cases, being denied this right altogether or receiving significantly less access to
periods of association compared to inmates in other remand prisons or in a
prison.
In addition, I would like to emphasise that the Remand Prison and Restriction
Government Inquiry has also submitted proposals for changes to the Remand
Prisons Act with regard to the use of isolation-breaking measures. In short, the
proposal means that a provision is added to the Remand Prisons Act that states
that an adult who is held on remand with restrictions must always have the right
to at least two hours' association with another person every day. Young people
are to have a corresponding right of four hours per day.44 The purpose of the
provision is to guarantee inmates a certain amount of isolation-breaking
measures per day in order to prevent them from becoming isolated.
I share the inquiry's assessment that there is a need for such regulation.
However, as the inquiry's proposal is formulated, this right will only include
inmates who have had restrictions imposed upon them. Even inmates who are
kept in segregation risk being isolated. For this reason, this group of inmates
should also be entitled to isolation-breaking measures. I am also hesitant
regarding a minimum time of only two hours. Based on the UN Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, two hours of isolation-breaking
efforts constitute precisely the limit where an inmate is considered as being
isolated in conditions amounting to solitary confinement. In order to reduce
such risks for inmates, in my opinion the minimum requirements in the Swedish
Prison and Probation Service should be set higher. I would also like to highlight
that the objective, in the opinion of the CPT, should be that all inmates should
be given the opportunity to spend at least eight hours a day outside their cells
and be provided with the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities of
various kinds.45 In my opinion, these opinions should be taken into account in
future legislative preparation.
Finally, there is reason to reiterate the representation on amending legislation I
made to the Government in June 2018, which concerns the need for statutory
regulation setting out specific times for reviewing decisions on the placement of
inmates in remand prisons. Such specific times are found in the Prisons Act. As
far as I understand, there are not any compelling reasons for applying different
principles in the prison and remand prison systems in this respect. In the
44
45
See SOU 2016:52 p. 41.
See CPT/Inf (2016) 1 para 53.
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