Special Report to the Storting Document 4:3 (2018–2019) 36 6 Extensive use of solitary confinement and restrictions on association with other ­inmates As described in Chapter 5 Lack of information about the use of solitary confinement, there are major weaknesses in the figures. It is clear, however, that solitary ­confinement and restrictions on association with other inmates represent a major problem in Norwegian prisons. The Directorate of the Correctional Service’s three annual day surveys (weekdays) from 2018 indicate that, on average, 33 per cent of the inmates in the prisons that participated in the surveys were locked up in their own cells for 16 hours or more per day.105 This amounted to just over 880 inmates. Two hundred of these were locked up in their own cells for more than 22 hours a day, just over half of whom were held in isolation without an administrative decision. In 2018, one day survey was also carried out at the weekend. It revealed that the share of inmates locked up and isolated was very high during weekends. The ­figures showed that nearly 50 per cent of the inmates of the prisons participating in the survey were locked up in their cells for 16 hours or more. Human rights standards on association with other inmates, activity programmes and out-of-cell time The purpose of a prison sentence is to protect society from crime and prevent recidivism.106 That is why the time spent in prison should be used to facilitate the inmate’s reintegration into society and a life without crime upon being released.107 All inmates, whether convicted or detained on remand, shall be offered a satisfactory range of daily activities consisting of work, education, vocational training and sports.108 Inmates shall be followed up socially and medically and offered cultural and leisure activities and at least one hour outdoors every day.109 The CPT has recommended that inmates should, at minimum, have the possibility of spending eight hours out of their cells every day, and to participate in meaningful and varied activities. 110, 111 105 The surveys were carried out in high-security prisons and a few lower-security prisons that have access to exclude inmates from the company of other inmates and/or have an intake department without communal premises. 106 The Nelson Mandela Rules, Rule 4. 107 The Nelson Mandela Rules, Rule 5. 108 The European Prison Rules, Rule 25(1) and (2); the Nelson Mandela Rules, Rules 4 and 5. 109 The Nelson Mandela Rules, Rules 23, 104 and 105. 110 Council of Europe: Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), 2nd General Report, 1992, CPT/Inf (1992) 3, paragraph 47. 111 Council of Europe: Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), 26th General Report, 2017, CPT/Inf (2017) 5, paragraph 58. 37 ‹ 6