37 Visits in 2015 After the visit The visit report was published in March 2016, and the prison is to inform the Parliamentary Ombudsman about its follow-up of the report’s recommendations in June 2016. Police custody facilities Lillestrøm police custody facility 2 February 2015 Unannounced visit The custody facility has a total of ten cells and, at the time of the NPM’s visit, it was the primary custody facility in Romerike Police District. Findings The NPM examined the police’s handling of serious incidents and use of coercive measures. The custody facility appears to have well-established procedures for the admission and supervision of detainees. There was no overview of incidents in which detainees had sustained injuries as a result of legitimate use of force or accidents. The NPM also gave a reminder that the police often have information about suicide risk or similar serious matters, and it urged the police to strengthen the transfer of information to the Correctional Services to ensure that necessary information is communicated when detainees are transferred to prison. Kongsvinger prison The NPM found nothing to indicate a disproportionate use of handcuffs in connection with admission. Body searches on admission are carried out based on an assessment in each case by an officer of the same gender. A procedure should be introduced whereby the removal of all clothing in connection with body searches is carried out in a two-step process, and the procurement of suitable rip-resistant clothing should be considered so that suicidal detainees do not have to be naked. Detainees are required to share the same cell (’double-celling’) relatively often, and the police linked this to the low capacity at the custody facility. A review showed 163 instances of double-celling in 2014. In exceptional cases, three to four detainees had shared a cell. When so many detainees share a cell intended for one person, the air quality can deteriorate significantly, among other things. This should not happen out of consideration for the individual detainees’ integrity. Many detainees had been detained for considerably longer than 48 hours at the custody facility. 56 detainees had been detained for more than three days in 2014, 13 of whom for more than four days, while three had been detained for more than five days and there were two different cases in which one detainee had been detained for more than six and seven days, respectively. At the same time, the information available indicated that the police prioritised work on preventing breaches of the holding period, and the challenges must also be seen in conjunction with the high occupancy levels in the prisons. It was otherwise considered positive that the police implement accommodating measures to combat isolation, particularly in the form of frequent trips to the exercise yard, including in the company of other detainees. During its visit, the NPM also looked at the detainees’ access to health services. It was positive that the police generally had a low threshold for escorting detainees to the accident and emergency unit. At the same time, the police and health

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