35 Lennart Frandsen Head of 3rd Division (Inspections) DETENTION FACILITIES IN GREENLAND FOR INTOXICATED PERSONS - a long-term project ‘I assume that the Ministry of Justice agrees that there is no reason why the conditions offered the population of Greenland within this area should be worse than the conditions offered the population of Denmark’ (quote from the Ombudsman’s letter of 23 October 1990 to the Ministry of Justice; Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 1990, p. 97) The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s activities primarily involve handling individual complaint cases. In addition, cases are opened on the Ombudsman’s own initiative (including own-initiative projects) and inspections are carried out. Most of these cases typically relate to specific matters and are concluded within a foreseeable period of time. However, occasionally the Parliamentary Ombudsman only reaches a satisfactory result after many years. This may be the case when the Ombudsman deals with major problem combinations. An example of a long-term project is the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s work with the police and prison service in Greenland. The problems have mainly been associated with the detention facilities for intoxicated persons. The Ombudsman has worked on these issues for more than 20 years. THE PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN AND GREENLAND The Constitution of the Realm of Denmark is fully applicable to Greenland as part of the federation. As a result, acts passed by the Danish Parliament automatically apply to Greenland as well unless otherwise stated in the act. The Ombudsman Act thus also applies to Greenland. However, the Parliamentary