Extracts from news published on the Ombudsman’s website in 2019 | 69 4 March prisons. In 2018 unconditional placements in disciplinary cells were used on 4,752 occasions as against 2,579 occasions in 2015. A seriously ill man from Sierra Leone had to wait 26 months for a decision whether he would get a humanitarian residence permit. The length of time was a matter for criticism, the Ombudsman states after looking into the matter. Among other things, he criticises that the case was at a standstill at the Ministry of Immigration and Integration for three periods totalling almost 16 months. Denmark has been criticised several times by the UN and the Council of Europe for protracted placements in disciplinary cells. Criticism of long processing time in case about humanitarian residence permit 7 March Much-debated e-mail does not alter Ombudsman’s previous conclusion in case about separate accommodation of married or cohabiting underage asylum seekers An e-mail of 10 February 2016 from the then director of the Danish Immigration Service to other employees of the Immigration Service has been the subject of public debate over the last few weeks. The Parliamentary Ombudsman has today informed the Ministry of Immigration and Integration that, based on an overall assessment, the e-mail does not give him cause to take further action on the matter, and that therefore what he stated in his report of 23 March 2017 still stands. 18 March Ombudsman to investigate use of disciplinary cells in state and local prisons In 2019 the Ombudsman’s Monitoring Department will have special focus on the form of solitary confinement which is called placement in disciplinary cells. Placements in disciplinary cells are increasingly used against inmates who violate rules in state and local 19 March Ministry of Culture entitled to withhold information about Crown Prince and IOC A journalist asked for access to letters exchanged between the Ministry of Culture and the Danish Royal House about The Crown Prince’s participation in a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (the IOC) about Russia’s right to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. The IOC is a private organisation, and The Crown Prince participated in a personal capacity. The Ombudsman concludes that the Ministry of Culture was entitled to deny the journalist access – based on a specific assessment – to the major part of the correspondence. 20 March New practice for calculation of compensation for loss of earnings for self-employed people A professional composer and producer who had to look after his seriously ill baby daughter at home received DKK 83 per day in 2013 by way of compensation for loss of earnings. After the Ombudsman opened an investigation of the matter, asking the National Social Appeals Board to answer a number of questions, the Board changed its decision and the composer now has prospects of being paid much higher amounts for 2013 and subsequent years.