the national board of institutional care Safety and security of young people In connection with the inspection of the special residential home for young people Vemyra, it emerged that many of the young people at the home felt unsafe. One of the reasons for this was that there had been fires at the home on several occasions. During the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s inspection, one of the departments was closed due to fire damage. It also emerged that one of the individuals had been beaten, bullied and exploited by fellow young persons. The Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s employees perceived that the staff thought that this particular individual was annoying and that they tried to have as little as possible to do with her. The young persons said they manipulated the so-called door alarms that will alert the staff if the young people leave their rooms. This then allowed them to enter each other’s rooms without the staff noticing. In conversations, staff members described themselves as “overrun” and said that the substitutes brought in were inexperienced and did not know the girls very well. This picture of staff problems was confirmed by the individuals who, inter alia, stated that the staff were “stressed out”. They also stated that the staff did not have control over the departments and did not always react even though they saw things happen, for example when individuals harm themselves. According to the young persons, one of the staff members had been so rough that several of them had been injured.15 The National Board of Institutional Care’s management had known that there were shortcomings at the home in terms of, inter alia, management and governance. Following the inspection, the Parliamentary Ombudsman stated that the National Board of Institutional Care needed immediately to review what measures are required to ensure that young individuals receive safe and secure care. The Parliamentary Ombudsman questioned whether the measures taken so far had been sufficient. The particularly vulnerable situation of children and young people deprived of their liberty means that the relevant agencies must always take reports of violence and other misconduct very seriously. A premise in the work to improve the situation at the special residential home for young people Vemyra should be the experiences gained in dealing with the shortcomings noted at the special residential home for young people Sundbo.16 Additionally, during the inspection of the special residential home for young people Långanäs, several young persons stated there were problems with bullying and that staff members do not intervene when threatening situations arise between the young persons or when one of them is bullied.17 15 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report p. 2, 3 and 8–10, ref. no. O 44-2019. 16 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report p. 19–21, ref. no. O 44-2019. 17 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report p. 4, ref. no. O 57-2019. 57