22 police those standing in as prison guards. The Deputy-Ombudsman recommended that the police officers in guard duties receive sufficient further training. This means, for example, that the medicine distribution training for prison officers in spring 2018 should also include police officers participating in guard duties. The treatment of a detained minor • During the visit, a minor who had been apprehended by the police was brought to the police prison and was subsequently detained in a cell, awaiting the arrival of social service officers. It remained unclear to the NPM on what grounds the minor was detained in a cell and whether the appropriate records were made of the apprehension, and whether the apprehended person was informed of their rights and obligations, and how the person’s young age was taken into consideration in their treatment. The Deputy-Ombudsman decided to investigate the matter on his own initiative. The detention of remand prisoners in a police prison • It was noted during the visits to four police prisons that remand prisoners had no access to activities outside their cells, apart from outdoor time, and that the outdoor area at the police prison was not suitable for any type of exercise. Remand prisoners were forced to spend time in their cells with very few stimuli to keep them occupied. The Deputy-Ombudsman stated that, at the time of the visits, the period of detention for remand prisoners did not exceed the maximum of four weeks, as provided in the Remand Imprisonment Act. However, he did find that, owing to the conditions at the police prisons, the detention of remand prisoners in them should be discontinued at the earliest opportunity. Follow-up: The National Police Board reported to the Deputy-Ombudsman in December 2017 that it was not in the interest of the police to detain remand prisoners in police prisons any longer than the ongoing investigation necessitates. With the amended legislation entering into force on 1 January 2019, the detention period in police prisons is likely to be further reduced. The aim is also to pay attention to remand prisoners’ access to activities by building activity rooms as part of the prison renovation projects. During the renovations, remand prisoners’ access to television and radio has been improved by installing power and antenna sockets in cells. However, the limited guard resources in police prisons make it difficult to organise activities outside cells, as the resources only allow for the most imperative activities.

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