criminal sanctions • The prison was allocated a high number of remand prisoners, who were segregated pending criminal investigations. Arranging outdoor time for the prisoners was a challenge. There were only two time windows for outdoor exercise per day, one hour each, which seemed little compared to the number of prisoners (47 prisoners). Some of the prisoners used the exercise yard on the roof of the building. The exercise yard did not lend itself to any sports activities and was mainly used for standing and sitting outside. The Deputy-Ombudsman stated that, in this case, it remained unclear why there were only two time windows for spending time outside and whether it had been considered how the outdoor times for prisoners could be increased. The lack of outdoor time also raised the question of how communication restrictions ordered by the court could be implemented in practice with such limited outdoor times. The Deputy-Ombudsman also noted that it would be reasonable and important to arrange the opportunity for those spending their outdoor time on the roof to occasionally visit the outdoor area in the yard reserved for prisoners in segregation. Prisoner transport conditions • A prison had acquired two new compartmented prison transportation vehicles, in which prisoners were placed in different compartments separate from other prisoners and officers. According to the prison officers, since the acquisition of the new vehicles, there had been no further need to restrain prisoners during transportation to and from the court. The Deputy-Ombudsman stated that, under the Imprisonment Act and the Remand Imprisonment Act, restraining prisoners is possible only in individual cases based on consideration. The systematic policy of restraining prisoners without individual consideration when transporting prisoners from the prison in question to the court has long been raised as a problematic issue, and the policy has been found to be illegal. The Deputy-Ombudsman stated that with the new vehicles, the matter has finally been resolved in a satisfactory manner. 45

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