26 npm annual report 2016 /observations and recommendations 3.5 Criminal sanctions field The Criminal Sanctions Agency operates under the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for the enforcement of sentences to imprisonment and community sanctions. The Criminal Sanctions Agency runs 26 prisons. Prisoners serve their sentences either in a closed prison or an open institution. Of Finnish prisons, 15 are closed and 11 open institutions. In addition, certain closed prisons also include open units. Visits focus mainly on closed prisons. The average number of prisoners in 2016 was approximately 3,100. In January 2016, the Health Care Unit of the Criminal Sanctions Agency was transferred to operate under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as the Prisoners’ Health Care Unit. In 2016, visits were conducted to 11 prisons, four of which were open institutions. The sites visited were Käyrä Prison, Turku Prison, Jokela Prison, Riihimäki Prison, Suomenlinna Prison, Ylitornio Prison, Oulu Prison, Kestilä Prison, Pelso Prison, Mikkeli Prison and Kylmäkoski Prison. The supervision patrol activities of the Criminal Sanctions Region of Southern Finland were also examined. Three of the visits were unannounced. An external expert participated in one of the visits (Kylmäkoski). Rather than covering the entire prison, some of the visits only focused on certain activities, units or groups of prisoners. For example, the visit to Jokela Prison focused particularly on the conditions of isolation cells and the so-called “travelling cells” for temporary accommodation and on the procedure used when placing a prisoner in isolation under observation. Three visits were made to the Riihimäki Prison in 2015. The visit conducted during the year under review was a follow-up to the earlier visits. It focused on the problems identified during previous visits and in complaints as well as on the measures that the prison had taken in response. In addition to the prison management, a representative of the regional administration and the Director General of the Criminal Sanctions Agency were also invited to the final discussion during the visit. Three visits were made to the Prisoners’ Health Care Unit (outpatient clinics in Turku and Kylmäkoski and Prison hospital). The related observations are discussed in the section on health care.