5 THE POSSIBILITIES OF KEEPING A PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND PROVIDING INFORMATION TO PEOPLE DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERT Y also helps to reduce the risk of misunderstandings. The Parliamentary Ombudsman finally stated that individual prisons have chosen to produce their own written information. In the view of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, it was unsatisfactory that the Prison and Probation Service did not have a uniform approach. She also highlighted the need to follow up on whether inmates understood the information and have clear routines with instructions on who is responsible for disseminating information. The National Board of Institutional Care During the inspection of the special residential home for young people Tysslinge, all of the residents that the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s employees spoke to stated that they had received oral The Public Health information concerning Agency of Sweden’s in- Covid-19. The written formation may need to information they receibe supplemented with ved referred to instrucfor hand washing. information about the tions During the inspection agency’s own operations of the special residential home for substance abusers Hornö, however, several residents stated that they had not received any information from the National Board for Institutional Care regarding Covid-19. One resident stated that he had received oral information. Another resident stated that the only information he had received on arrival at the special residential home for substance abusers was that one should not hold hands with others. Another resident stated that he received information concerning visitor restrictions from other residents and not from staff. At the closing dialogue meeting, the management of the National Board for Institutional Care stated that the premise was that its institutions should, if necessary, print out information on Covid-19 from the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s website. Parliamentary Ombudsman Thomas Norling stated the following:5 “I have no objection to such an approach. The [Public Health Agency of Sweden] is an expert authority on public health issues and has a comprehensive knowledge of Covid-19 and the ongoing outbreak. It seems reasonable that other agencies use this resource instead of producing their own information material. However, individual agencies usually need to supplement this more general information with details on what the outbreak of the disease entails and the consequences for its own operations. When designing the information material, the agency must consider who the information is aimed at, for example children and young people. “ Parliamentary Ombudsman Thomas Norling also stated that the people deprived of their liberty should primarily receive information in writing. The Swedish Migration Agency During the inspections of the detention centres in Flen and Märsta, it emerged that some detainees had received information orally concerning Covid-19 from staff, but also that only some of them had received information in writing. The information mainly concerned how to wash your hands and general hygiene. It also emerged that detainees at Flen detention centre interpreted information for other detainees regarding the visiting restrictions that had been introduced at the Swedish Migration Agency’s detention centre. The agency had also produced an in5 See the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s decision of 3 September 2020, ref. no. O 13-2020. – 36 –