THE PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMEN’S INSPEC TIONS OF REMAND PRISONS 2015–2019 sted for almost four years. The remand prison was closed on 1 April 2018. During the inspection of Östersund Remand Prison, this temporary operation had lasted for ten years. Subsequent to a folPolice custody facilities low-up by the Parliamenare not suitable for use tary Ombudsmen, the Prison and Probation Service as a remand prison decided to build a new remand prison. Despite the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s criticism, however, the temporary remand prison was still in operation in 2019. The new remand prison will be completed in 2020. Finally, the Prison and Probation Service has closed Visby Prison and this means that Visby Remand Prison will have more appropriate premises.24 During an inspection of Ystad Remand Prison in February 2017, it was noted that the remand prison has a small unit with only two cells (the KV department). The department is set apart from the main facility and anyone who wishes to access the cells must pass two locked doors. In conversations with inmates who were placed in the department, they compared their stay there to being subject to restrictions.25 In reporting back to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen, the Prison and Probation Service stated that a placement in the KV department does not restrict the inmates’ ability to associate. The department is used partly for the placement of inmates with special needs, and partly as a “halfway station” for inmates who have had restrictions for a long time and who subsequently need a certain amount of time to adapt to being in association. 24 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s decision on 30 August 2018 in dnr 1387-2018 (Östersund Remand Prison), the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report, dnr 4139-2018 and the decision on 10 June 2019 dnr O 40-2019 (Visby Remand Prison) and the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report and decision on 28 November 2018, dnr 582-2017 (Halmstad Remand Prison). 25 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s report dnr 583-2017. 8 In a decision, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman stated that the Prison and Probation Service’s statement that the places are used as a halfway station between segregation and association with other inmates cannot be understood in any other The operations of a way than that a placement there gives undermines remand prison cannot the inmate’s right to asso- be conducted in a grey ciate with other inmates area between segregato a higher extent than in tion and association the rest of the remand prison. As there are no other placement alternatives for the Prison and Probation Service than segregation or association with other inmates, in the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman it is worrying that the agency establishes places that are in some form of “middle ground”. She then added the following: “I understand that it may be necessary to establish departments that can meet the inmates’ needs to associate in smaller groups of inmates. However, such departments must be formed in such a way that they do not restrict the inmates’ rights of association during the day. This is necessary to prevent that the operation is conducted in a grey area between segregation and association.”26 During an inspection of Helsingborg Remand Prison, Berga Remand Prison Branch in May 2019, it emerged that one of the remand prison’s departments (department 1:5) lacks a communal space. For this reason, the inmates associating with one other in the department 26 See the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s decision on 3 September 2018, dnr 5832017. – 49 –