32 NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Special Report on Solitary Confinement in Norwegian Prisons In June 2019, the Parliamentary Ombudsman submitted a Special Report to the Storting on Solitary Confinement and Lack of Human Contact in Norwegian Prisons. The report is based on findings from the National Preventive Mechanism’s (NPM) visits to 19 Norwegian prisons over the course of four years. The nature of these findings were so grave that we chose to compile them in a separate Special Report to the Storting – the most powerful instrument available to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Background for the Special Report For several years, Norwegian authorities have been criticised internationally for their use of solitary confinement in prisons. As recently as in 2018, the UN Committee against Torture expressed great concern about the extent of prolonged solitary confinement, and that the conditions for use of solitary confinement were not sufficiently clear. In the same year, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited Norway and recommended in its report that inmates held in solitary confinement in Norway should be offered structured activities and have meaningful human contact on a daily basis. The committee was ­particularly concerned about the solitary ­confinement of inmates with mental health problems. During the period 2014–2018, the Parliamentary Ombudsman's National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has carried out 20 visits to 19 high-security prisons. The overall findings paint a serious picture of the use of solitary confinement in Norwegian prisons. The Special Report to the Storting on Solitary C ­ onfinement and Lack of Human Contact in ­Norwegian Prisons was submitted to the Storting on 18 June this year.