the swedish migration agency
access to health and medical care since an examination was last made. For
this reason, in the view of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, there is great value
in a medical professional conducting an examination of everyone admitted to
a detention centre. The Swedish Migration Agency should, therefore, consider
reviewing its admission routines in this respect in order to ensure that detainees receive the care they need and to reduce the risk of spreading infectious
diseases.
During the inspection of the detention centre in Ljungbyhed, it further emerged that the Swedish Migration Agency holds the view that a detainee must
be examined by a doctor at the detention centre before they can be transported to an psychiatric emergency unit. According to details received, it can
take up to 12 hours before a doctor arrives. In the view of the Parliamentary
Ombudsman, the conditions described raised questions concerning access
to health and medical care in a situation where a detainee segregated because
there is a risk that they will injure themselves. Therefore, the Parliamentary
Ombudsman will continue to follow this issue in future inspections of the
Swedish Migration Board’s detention centres.
85
There is a great
value in a medical
professional examining all individuals
admitted to a detention centre
Documentation
During the inspection of the detention centre in Ljungbyhed, it was noted
that the detention centre kept a manually entered, so-called detention and
segregation log in an accounting ledger. During the examination of the logs,
the Parliamentary Ombudsmen’s employees were able to note that, in some
cases, no time had been specified for the decisions taken or when a period of
segregation had ended. In some cases, there was no date for when a detainee
was in a security placement. There were, in general, no times specified for
security placements. It was, therefore, not possible to see how much time had
elapsed between the decisions on segregation and the security placements in
cases where the decisions were made on the same day, nor when the detainee
was notified of the decision.
Following the inspection, the Parliamentary Ombudsman emphasised that
if the documentation in a log is to fulfil the function of, inter alia, monitoring deadlines, it needs to be filled in correctly so that it is always possible to
obtain a reliable picture of the handling of cases.
Incorrect information entails a risk that deadlines will not be noticed in time
and that detainees will, therefore, not have their rights met.
An accounting book was also used at the detention centre in Kållered to
maintain the log. Following an inspection, the Parliamentary Ombudsman
stated that it was surprising that the Swedish Migration Agency had not ensured that there was a technical solution or other documentation system, so that
The Swedish Migration Agency must
ensure that the
detention centre can
document necessary
details in a uniform
manner
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