npm annual report 2016 / observations and recommendations • When prisoners were interviewed, they expressed their dissatisfaction at not receiving a response to their inquiry forms. The Ombudsman does not find the clinic’s action related to responding to the inquiry forms lawful if the general practice is not to inform the patients of the time of their doctor’s appointment in advance. They should also be informed if the appointment is rescheduled. In this respect, prisoners should not placed in a different position from other patients. The Ombudsman found it important that the clinic’s practice related to informing patients of the times of their doctor’s appointments, and possibly other appointments, be changed so that it is compliant with the law. • Whether or not the form currently in use is suitable in general for contacting the clinic was also discussed during the visit. This applied to all Prisoners’ Health Care Units. The Ombudsman noted he would take it up separately with the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Prisoners’ Health Care Unit, rather than assessing the question any further. However, the Ombudsman encouraged the clinic in continuing its efforts to design its own form that would only relate to health care issues. This would be another way of helping to streamline the patients’ interaction with the clinic. The Ombudsman also recommended that the clinic work together with the prison to ensure that the confidentiality of the prisoners’ interactions with the health care services is not compromised. If the inquiry form is the prisoner’s only way of contacting the health care services, attention should be paid to secrecy in its use. As an example, he cited a prison where messages intended for the clinic can be placed in a locked letterbox intended for this purpose. • The NPM were told that a prisoner placed in observation, or isolating observation, is always visited at the time of the placement. Subsequently, the prisoner is visited as required. A prisoner in solitary confinement is visited roughly once a week. The imprisonment act (vankeuslaki, 767/2005) does not contain specific provisions on how often the health care services should visit these prisoners. The CPT standards require that the health care services visit a prisoner placed in isolation immediately and, subsequently, at least once a day. The Ombudsman found it important that the clinic visits a prisoners placed under observation or isolating observation every day. The Ombudsman also recommended that a prisoner placed in solitary confinement or in isolation be visited regularly. 67