the national board of institutional care 52 The National Board of Institutional Care The National Board of Institutional Care is responsible for the special residential homes where substance abusers who are cared for in accordance with the Care of Substance Abusers Act (1988:870) are placed. The National Board of Institutional Care is also the principal of the special residential homes where young people who are cared for pursuant to section 3 of the Care of Young Persons Act (1990:52) and who require particulary close attention may be placed. In the special residential homes, young people who have been sentenced to so-called special youth care, and who serve their sentences pursuant to the Secure Youth Care Act (1998:603) are also placed. At the end of 2019, there were 23 special residential homes for young people in Sweden1 with approximately 730 places and 11 special residential homes for substance abusers with approximately 390 places. In 2019, four of the National Board of Institutional Care’s institutions, two special residential homes for substance abusers and two special residential homes for young people, were inspected.2 The two homes for young people were inspected for the first time by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen. All the inspections were unannounced. The Parliamentary Ombudsman also held a dialogue meeting with the National Board of Institutional Care’s Director General and senior management team in October 2019. The dialogue meeting was held in connection with statements made by the Parliamentary Ombudsman following a number of OPCAT inspections and own-initiative inquiries. Parliamentary Ombudsman Thomas Norling has decided on all the inspections and the dialogue meeting as well as made statements following the inspections.3 5.1 Observations made during this year’s inspections As in previous years, an important issue during the inspections of the National Board of Institutional Care’s institutions has been to examine how it applies the legislative provisions on separate care and the segregation of individuals. The experience from previous years’ inspections is that there can sometimes be uncertainty among staff concerning how these rules – which allow the limiting of individuals’ rights to associate with others – are to be 1 The special residential home for young people in Lövsta was closed in 2019. 2 The special residential homes for young people Vemyra and Långanäs and the special residential homes for substance abusers Gudhemsgården and Hessleby. At the time of compiling this report, the report from the special residential home for substance abusers in Hessleby was not completed. 3 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s ref. no. O 55-2019.