Severe criticism of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, Helsingborg Remand Prison, for failing to comply with a court of appeal order setting aside certain restrictions on an inmate

Summary of the decision: On appeal, Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal revoked the prosecutor’s permission to impose restrictions on an inmate, including restricting the right to associate with other inmates. Helsingborg Remand Prison failed to comply with this decision. Instead, the remand prison followed a procedure that prevented inmates with restrictions on the right to receive visits, communicate with others through electronic communication or send and receive post from joining the general population.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that, in practice, the inmate has been separated and, furthermore, that there are no legal grounds for restricting an inmate’s opportunities to associate in this manner. She finds it remarkable that an individual facility would take it on itself to ignore a court order. Moreover, as no formal decision was made to apply the restrictions, the inmate has not been able to challenge the situation through an appeal; a state of affairs that the Parliamentary Ombudsman considers completely unacceptable.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman finds that the remand prison is deserving of severe criticism.