6 RESTRIC TIONS ON VISITS AND LEAVE 6 Restrictions on visits and leave Each of the agencies investigated have – with the aim of reducing the spread of Covid-19 – introduced restrictions on the opportunities people deprived of their liberty have to receive visits. Some of the agencies have also limited the possibilities for people deprived of their liberty to spend time outside of the institution in which they are placed. 6.1 Opportunities to receive visits The Prison and Probation Service may limit an inmate’s opportunity to receive a visit if it poses a risk to, inter alia, safety and security. The National Board of Forensic Medicine may do the same with regard to patients covered by the Remand Prisons Act.1 The Swedish Migration Agency may restrict visits in special cases if it is deemed to create difficulties for the activities within a detention centre.2 The three agencies may therefore, in individual cases, limit the opportunities for people deprived of their liberty to receive visits. This should be compared with the National Board of Institutional Care which – in addition to restricting visits in individual cases – can decide on more general visiting restrictions in relation to people deprived of their liberty under the Care of Abusers Act and the Care of Young Persons Act.3 The agency may limit visits to one or more institutions if it is deemed necessary with regard to, inter 1 Chapter 7, Section 1 of the Prisons Act and Chapter 3, Section 1 first paragraph of the Remand Prisons Act. 2 Chapter 11, Section 4 first paragraph of the Aliens Act. 3 Section 15 a of the Care of Young Persons Act and Section 33 a of the Care of Abusers Act state, inter alia, that visits may be refused or limited if they pose a risk to the care or order at the home. alia, the risk of transmission of infection. The National Board of Forensic Medicine also has the opportunity to decide on general visiting restrictions in relation to patients who receive care in accordance with the Forensic Psychiatric Care Act.4 The National Board of Institutional Care, however, does not have the possibility to decide on general visiting restrictions in relation to young people who receive care under the Enforcement of Secure Youth Care Act. In these cases, the National Board of Institutional Care – similar to what applies to the Prison and Probation Service, the Swedish Migration Agency and the National Board of Forensic Medicine in relation to the majority of the people deprived of their liberty – must decide in each individual case to limit a person’s ability to receive visits. A young person may be refused a visit if it is necessary with regard to maintaining order or security within a special residential home for young people or if it could negatively affect the young person’s rehabilitation back into society or otherwise be detrimental to them or others.5 The Prison and Probation Service The Prison and Probation Service has a system in place that means that individuals are approved as visitors to a specific inmate upon application. A person who has been granted such a visiting permit has the opportunity then to book a visit to the remand prison or prison where the inmate is located. If the prerequisites for the granting of a visiting permit change, the Prison and Probation Service 4 Section 3 of the Restrictions on Visits in Certain Compulsory Care Act (1996: 981). 5 Section 16 of the Enforcement of Secure Youth Care Act. – 40 –