MEASURES IN C ASE OF A SUSPEC TED OR CONFIRMED INFEC TION so-called quarantine departments where detainees with suspected or confirmed infections of Covid-19 could be placed. The management’s view was that staying in such a department does not entail a restriction of the detainees’ rights and that no decision, therefore, is required for a placement there. Parliamentary Ombudsman Per Lennerbrant stated that the premise should be that a detainee with a suspected or confirmed infection of a disease posing a danger to the public is given the opportunities to take the responsibility that they are obliged to take in accordance with the Communicable Diseases Act. This means that the Swedish Migration Agency needs to make the necessary arrangements so that a person suspected of being infected does not reside with other detainees for the time required to confirm that the detainee does not risk transferring the infection to others. The Parliamentary Ombudsman then stated the following:11 “A premise should be that a detainee suspected of being infected does not reside with a person who is confirmed as infected. In the preventive work to prevent the spread of infection, the agency, therefore, needs to ensure that people suspected of being infected do not spread the infection between each other but are also not exposed to infection by people confirmed as infected. In order to reduce the risk of the spread of infection, the detainees should, if possible, be allocated their own living areas and hygiene facilities and be given the opportunity to maintain a physical distance in common areas.” 11 See the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s decision of 9 October 2020, ref. no. O 182020. 3 Furthermore, the Parliamentary Ombudsman stated that the measure of moving a detainee to a quarantine department may mean that they temporarily reside there alone. Staff, therefore, need to take measures to ensure that detainees understand that this is a voluntary measure. It is important that staff document the circumstances surrounding the measure to move a detainee as well as the detainee’s willingness to do so. The National Board of Forensic Medicine At the time of the inspections of the National Board of Forensic Medicine’s examination divisions, the division in Stockholm had had two patients who were suspected of being infected with Covid-19. They stayed for a limited time voluntarily in their living areas separate from other patients. According to the management of the National Board of Forensic Medicine, it is preferable for patients to participate voluntarily in measures taken to counteract the spread of infection. The management stated, however, that it would be good to clarify what level of coercion is possible to take in accordance with the legislation that applies to the National Board of Forensic Medicine’s activities. Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman Elisabeth Rynning stated that the fact that a person has been deprived of their liberty does not, of course, mean that they are thereby considered to lose their ability to fulfil the obliga- It is doubtful how far tions that may be incum- it is possible to rely on bent on everyone in socie- voluntariness when a ty. On the other hand, with person is detained regard to measures that are more generally considered as requiring a special legal basis, in activities such as prison care or other compulsory – 19 –