Criticism of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, head office and Gothenburg Remand Prison, for restricting inmates’ right to outdoor exercise during the Eurovison Song Contest in Malmö

Summary of the decision: The right to daily outdoor exercise was restricted for approximately 70 inmates of Gothenburg Remand Prison for two weeks in spring 2024. The background to this restriction was a request from the police to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service to empty cells in Police Region Syd of remand prisoners to make places available prior to the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. In response to this request, inmates with restrictions were moved to Gothenburg Remand Prison, with consequences for many inmates.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman underlines that limiting the right to outdoor exercise is out of the question in a situation in which there were reasonable opportunities for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service to avoid doing so. In this case, the authority had just over one month to deal with the police’s request and at a very early stage it was apparent that the planned measures risked infringing the right in question. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, there should have been scope to consider whether anything could be done to avoid such consequences, such as assigning additional staff to the prison so that exercise could be taken across a larger part of the day. However, it appears that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service did not even consider this. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the circumstances in question did not constitute the necessary extraordinary reasons to restrict the right to outdoor exercise. Furthermore, she states that it is highly unsatisfactory that Gothenburg Remand Prison does not appear to have considered whether the affected inmates could be compensated in some way. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is critical of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service’s handling of this matter, both at its head office and at Gothenburg Remand Prison.