Statement concerning the Swedish Prison and Probation Service’s processing of an email from a public defence counsel to an inmate

Summary of the decision: A public defence counsel sent an email to a remand prison containing a message for an inmate. The remand prison did not forward the message to the inmate and informed counsel that it did not intend to pass on any such messages to inmates in future.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that, pursuant to the provisions of the Swedish Act on Detention (SFS 2010:611) on electronic communication, there is no obligation to forward an email to an inmate. Nor can the Parliamentary Ombudsman see that there is any statutory duty to do so as a service measure.

However, given that emails from public defence counsel often concern urgent matters in criminal proceedings, the Parliamentary Ombudsman is of the opinion that a somewhat more nuanced attitude to forwarding email messages than the one apparently adopted by the remand prison in question would be desirable.