DETENTION FACILITIES IN GREENLAND FOR INTOXICATED PERSONS –– lengthy stays in unfurnished detention rooms, with television surveillance and fully lit 24 hours a day (see below for further details) –– work availability in prisons –– employees’ private use of official car and washing machines –– use of security cell in the basement as an ordinary cell for two inmates –– prison warden’s use of the inmates’ common room as office and relocation of the inmates to a small room in the basement –– problems around security arrangements (television surveillance, emergency call device, smoke alarm etc. LONG-TERM STAYS IN DETENTION FACILITIES FOR INTOXICATED PERSONS A particular – and very serious – problem has been long-term confinement of inmates in detention facilities for intoxicated persons, especially after the building improvements. Although the facilities are (primarily) intended for intoxicated persons, the Ombudsman’s inspections revealed that they were also used for instance for detainees (prisoners in custody) and convicted persons (people serving a sentence) – often for a very long time. The rooms used for these purposes were only ‘furnished’ with a vinyl-covered mattress on the floor and had 24-hour television surveillance and the light on permanently. These circumstances caused the Parliamentary Ombudsman to recommend to the Ministry of Justice and the Chief Constable of Greenland that the detention facilities – when exceptionally used for non-intoxicated persons – were only used for short stays, without constant television surveillance and light. The Parliamentary Ombudsman also recommended that the rooms were equipped with (basic) furniture. This has in the main been the arrangement in force since 2006. During a visit to the Prison for Convicts in Kangerlussuaq in August 2007, an inmate stated that he had spent approx. 11 weeks in a detention room in contravention of the arrangement. The Parliamentary Ombudsman initiated a detailed investigation and in his final letter of 22 September 2008 to the Ministry of Justice and others he stated 2: 2 Parliamentary Ombudsman Report for 2008, pp. 720-721 39