SUMMARY dered a serious failure that the Prison and Probation Service offers inmates isolation-breaking measures instead of associating with other inmates. The Prison and Probation Service’s report on isolation-breaking measures includes activities that entail inmates meeting other people as well as being alone outside their cells. The latter category of activities includes inmates being alone in an exercise yard or gym. For a measure to be effective and isolation-breaking in the truest sense of the word, it must – in the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman – mean that an inmate has meaningful human contact. This can include, for example, receiving visits or spending time with another inmate. In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, measures that do not involve such human contact should be reported as various changes in the inmate’s physical environment. The Prison and Probation Service’s surveys of isolation-breaking measures The Prison and Probation Service’s surveys of isolation-breaking measures are associated with a number of shortcomings. This has resulted in a level of uncertainty concerning the figures presented by the agency. According to the Prison and Probation Service, the low number of surveys taken suggests that year-on-year differences can be caused by chance and that comparing different years should therefore be made with great caution. Furthermore, there is a risk that information is not included as remand prisons fail to respond to the survey or do not record certain activities. In December 2017, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman called on the Prison and Probation Service to introduce a system which provides the opportunity to follow and monitor isolation-breaking work over time. In a 2018 report, the Prison and Probation Service assessed that the data provided by the current surveys is sufficient to provide an approximate picture of the extent of the use of isolation-breaking measures at the national level. At the dialogue meeting in March 2019, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman raised the issue of having a planning and follow-up tool with representatives of the Prison and Probation Service. According to the representatives of the Prison and Probation Service, the agency wants to develop and introduce a central support system for the use of isolation-breaking measures. A reasona– 11 – 1