the parliamentary ombudsmen’s opcat activities 16 The focus of activities The Parliamentary Ombudsmen supervises the activities of central government agencies, county councils and municipal authorities. This supervision includes individual officials within these agencies and others whose work involves the exercise of authority. Instructions Section 5a The Parliamentary Ombudsmen also undertake the tasks incumbent on a national preventive mechanism pursuant to the Optional Protocol of 18 December 2002 to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. As mentioned earlier, the ombudsmen1 are assisted by a special unit, the OPCAT unit2, in accomplishing the duties incumbent on a national preventive mechanism. The first few years of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s OPCAT activities have focused on inspections of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, the Swedish Police Authority3, the National Board of Institutional Care (SiS), the county councils and the Swedish Migration Agency. In 2014, Sweden had: • 47 prisons (4 500 places) • 31 remand prisons (1 900 places) • 120 police detention facilities (1 400 places) • 24 homes for the compulsory care of young persons (637 places) • 11 homes for the compulsory care of substance misusers (300 places) • At least 80 institutions for compulsory psychiatric care (ca. 4 000 places) • 5 Migration Agency detention units (200 places) 4 500 Prisons 1 900 Remand prisons 1 400 637 300 4 000 Police detention Compulsory Compulsory Compulsory facilities care young care substance psychiatric persons misusers care 200 Migration Agency detention units Regular inspection activities OPCAT requires national preventive mechanisms to regularly visit places of detention. Regular inspection activities provide the opportunity to: • effectively monitor improvements or deteriorations in the conditions of persons deprived of their liberty, • keep a general watch to ensure that persons deprived of their liberty are informed of their rights, 1 The ombudsmen are involved in the OPCAT assignment according to their respective supervisory areas. 2 As of 1 February 2015, the OPCAT unit, formerly the NPM unit. 3 As of 1 January 2015, the 21 police authorities have been merged into a single authority, see page 23.