1 SUMMARY ble estimate is that it will be approximately five years before a fully functioning system is in place. In the February 2020 decision, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman states that the shortcomings in the Prison and Probation Service’s surveys of the use of isolation-breaking measures make it difficult for the agency to follow the work that takes place at the local level in breaking the isolation of inmates. Additionally, the suveys cannot be applied on a general level. As a result, the suverys become almost useless. In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, a continuous recording of the extent to which inmates are provided with isolation-breaking measures is necessary for the Prison and Probation Service to be able to follow this work over time, and to enable the agency’s staff to identify inmates who are at risk of being isolated. For this reason, it is very important that the Prison and Probation Service gets a support system in place and that such a system is used correctly. In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, as the need to be able to follow the work on the use of isolation-breaking measures is so great, the estimated time of five years for producing a support system appears to be unacceptably long. Need for legislative amendments to, inter alia, the Remand Prisons Act In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, there needs to be a review of, inter alia, the Remand Prisons Act in order to clarify inmates’ rights of association with others and counteract isolation. In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, a first necessary measure is the introduction of a definition of association with other inmates in both the Remand Prisons Act and the Prisons Act. A reasonable premise is that association is understood to mean that an inmate spends time with several other inmates In order for the right of association with other inmates to be meaningful, the legislation needs to state the extent to which an inmate has the right to associate with other inmates on a daily basis. As it is a question of a fundamental right, in the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman it is not sufficient that a more detailed meaning is only found in the Prison and Probation Service’s own regulations, which is currently the case with regard to inmates in – 12 –