42 npm annual report 2016 /observations and recommendations Basic education For several reasons, the arrangements for organising basic education in a prison were unsatisfactory. Forming teaching groups was challenging, and the use of distance teaching by a video link had not gone ahead in the prison, either. (Kylmäkoski) The Deputy-Ombudsman made reference to remote general upper secondary school studies based on video links organised in prisons of the Criminal Sanctions Region of Eastern and Northern Finland. His assessment of the situation was that teaching could also be organised following the same operating model in the Criminal Sanctions Region of Western Finland. The Deputy-Ombudsman asked the prison to report on actions taken to arrange basic education for prisoners. Supervision patrol activities In addition to prisons, the activities of the criminal sanctions authorities that supervise sentences served outside prison were investigated on visits. On certain conditions, a prisoner may be placed outside the prison for a trial period and supervised by means of technical equipment and other methods before conditional release (parole). Some short prison terms may be converted into monitoring sentence outside the prison. Persons sentenced to this type of a penalty may only move within a specified area outside their homes. Their movements are supervised by technical methods. The criminal sanctions authorities supervise the serving of both types of penalties by means of unannounced inspection visits to homes, workplaces or other areas where these persons spend time. This supervision is performed by so-called support patrols. Support patrol activities were scrutinised in the Criminal Sanctions Region of Southern Finland. The observations made during the visit were related to the organisation of the activities and occupational safety.