78 | Annual Report 2019 Monitoring activities – adults Theme for 2019 Disciplinary cells The form of solitary confinement called placement in disciplinary cells (‘strafcelle’) may be used as a disciplinary sanction when an inmate breaks the rules of the Prison and Probation Service. Inmates placed in a disciplinary cell may be in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day. The inmate is entitled to one hour a day outside in the prison exercise yard and to work in his or her cell. The Ombudsman chose as the theme for 2019 to investigate the use of disciplinary cells. The reasons for the choice of theme were that solitary confinement may have adverse psychological effects and that the use of disciplinary cells in state and local prisons has risen sharply over recent years. The Prison and Probation Service has laid down guidelines for how the most common transgressions are normally to be sanctioned. For instance, an inmate is normally sanctioned with 15 days in a disciplinary cell the first time the inmate is caught with a mobile phone in a closed prison. Before the sanction of placement in a disciplinary cell is imposed on an inmate, statements must be taken and the statements must be put on record. The upper limit for placing an inmate in a disciplinary cell is four weeks at a time. However, the inmate can be placed in a disciplinary cell – or be excluded from association with others – for a longer period. As part of the theme for 2019, the Ombudsman’s visiting teams visited three closed prisons, two open prisons, 11 local prisons and the Prison and Probation Service immigration detention centre. The visiting teams focused especially on • whether the Prison and Probation Service observes the rights of the inmates when questioning them • whether the documentation in records lives up to the rules • whether the Prison and Probation Service takes preventive measures against adverse psychological effects on inmates placed in disciplinary cells • whether the healthcare staff are informed of and attend to inmates who are placed in disciplinary cells The Ombudsman’s overall assessment • The guidelines of the Prison and Probation Service should in certain areas be changed with a view to ensuring the legal rights of the inmates when it is decided to place them in a disciplinary cell and in order to take preventive measures against adverse psychological effects as a result of placement in a disciplinary cell. Examples of the Ombudsman’s general recommendations • that the institutions under the Prison and Probation Service ensure that the inmate understands what is said during a disciplinary hearing, and increase the use of interpreters Reports on the themes for our monitoring visits can be found at www.ombudsmanden.dk by clicking next to the small globe icon at the top of the site, selecting ‘English’ and clicking ‘Read more’ under the heading ‘About the Ombudsman and complaints’ and then ‘Publications’.