24 npm annual report 2016 /observations and recommendations 3.3 Border guard detention facilities Based on the information received by the Deputy-Ombudsman, the Finnish Border Guard currently uses 15 closed spaces for the detention of persons deprived of their liberty. They are used for short-term detention before transferring persons to a police prison, a detention unit or a reception centre. The duration of detention in these facilities varies from one hour to several hours. The maximum time is in all cases 12 hours. The location, standards and equipment of the facilities vary. During the year under review, no visits were made to the facilities. However, the following describes the measures required as a result of the Deputy-Ombudsman’s earlier visit to the detention facilities of the Border Guard. The administrative units of the Border Guard have adopted rules for the Border Guard’s detention facilities. In addition to the national languages, the rules will be translated into English and Russian as well as other languages depending on the largest nationality groups using a given border crossing point. In 2014, the Deputy-Ombudsman conducted a visit to the joint detention facilities of the Border Guard and the Customs at the Vaalimaa border crossing point. She decided to launch a separate investigation on the conditions and treatment of persons held in the facilities by the two authorities. The Deputy-Ombudsman requested, in particular, information on the division of responsibilities in the use and supervision of the facilities, guidelines and the implementation of CCTV monitoring. On closer examination, it turned out that the facilities had not been identified as facilities that are subject to the provisions of the act on the treatment of persons in police custody and would have to be approved by the Border Guard before persons deprived of their liberty could be held in them. Thus, the inspected detention facilities had not been approved for the purpose. It also turned out that the Border Guard did not have a single detention facility approved under the Border Guard Act. In a decision adopted in 2015, the Deputy-Ombudsman required that all facilities under the Border Guard’s administration that are used for holding persons deprived of their liberty have to approved in accordance with the procedure set out in the Border Guard Act and the rights guaranteed for persons deprived of their liberty in various acts must be taken into account in the approval process. In order to keep track of the total duration of deprivation of liberty, the Deputy-Ombudsman considered it important that the time when a person is placed in a detention facility is always appropriately recorded. Moreover, the conditions in the facilities must ensure treatment with human dignity as required by fundamental and human rights. During the investigation, the Border Guard Headquarters began its own examination of the detention facilities and conditions of persons deprived of their liberty in all border guard districts. The examination also covered the requirements set for detention facilities and their approval procedure in more general terms. Following the Deputy-Ombudsman’s opinion issued to the Border Guard, the rules of the Vaalimaa detention facility, drawn up by the Customs, mention that closed spaces in the facility are equipped with an alarm device that enables immediate contact with the staff. According to information provided by the Border Guard, the alarm system is still missing from two older detention facilities. The issue had been resolved by an order from the Border Guard, one of the co-users of the facilities.