5 THE POSSIBILITIES OF KEEPING A PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND PROVIDING INFORMATION TO PEOPLE DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERT Y 5 The possibilities of keeping a physical distance and providing information to people deprived of their liberty An important element in the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s recommendations on how everybody should behave to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection is to keep a physical distance from other people. The recommendation applies to everybody and, as such, not only to people showing symptoms that may indicate Covid-19 infection. A general premise during the spring and summer of 2020 was that the minimum suitable physical distance was between one and two metres. 5.1 Physical distance The Prison and Probation Service In the questionnaire that the Parliamentary Ombudsmen distributed in remand prisons and prisons, several inmates expressed the view that the Prison and Probation Service had not taken sufficient measures to prevent the spread of infection. The complaints concerned, inter alia, overcrowding in the agency’s premises, which makes it difficult to maintain a physical distance. An inmate at Färingsö prison provided the following description: “Staff members do not use protective equipment such as gloves/masks to protect us clients. Why does the prison ignore the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s instructions? We do not keep our distance, on several occasions we have had to ask staff to keep a distance. Social gatherings are held in a small space, even though we do not want that. But the management has decided that these (activities) should continue.” Parliamentary Ombudsman Katarina Påhlsson stated that so many thoughts of inmates had had been expressed on this that, in her opinion, there were reasons for the Prison and Probation Service to review which measures needed to be taken to ensure that both inmates and staff could follow the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s advice. Due to the strained occupancy situation, the Prison and Probation Service regularly double-occupies cells in remand prisons and prisons. Inmates in a remand prison should, as a rule, be placed in a single cell, but two or more inmates may be placed in the same cell if this is necessary for reasons of lack of space or some other special reason.1 There is no corresponding provision in the Prisons Act. It follows from the European Prison Rules, however, that inmates should normally be accommodated in their own cell during the night unless it is preferable for them to share . Shared accommodation may only occur if it is suitable for this purpose and shared by inmates who are suitable to be placed together. As far as possible, inmates shall be given a choice before they have to share a sleeping space with others.2 In the questionnaire distributed by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen to inmates, 12 per cent of those who responded stated that they had shared a cell with another inmate. An inmate at Svartsjö prison made the following comment: 1 Chapter 2, Section 1 of the Remand Prisons Act. 2 See rules 18.5 to 18.7, European Prison Rules. The prison rules are, inter alia, applicable to anyone detained by a judicial authority or detained as a result of a judgment (Rules 10.1 and 10.3). – 30 –