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Quickly and under the great shadow of the media, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service introduced several restrictions on the freedoms and rights of inmates during the spring and winter.
The purpose was to prevent the new corona virus from spreading within the country’s crowded prisons and institutions. This would pose a safety hazard and a great burden on public health care, management reasoned.
Quick decisions were made and implemented, similar to the situation for the care of the elderly.
All private visits were indefinitely prohibited. Permits and the right to free time were revoked. All physical contact between inmates and the outside world would be minimized so as not to cause infections in the institutions.
The Ombudsman’s Office learned of what happened when a large number of complaints from the inmates and their families began to fall into the authority’s mailbox.
“We are not allowed to see our children.”
“They isolate us from loved ones”
“This is a game for the gallery because we are constantly exposed to sources of infection”
A focused review in the Stockholm Region started. Questionnaires were sent to 200 inmates from four institutions and two prisons in Stockholm County. 145 out of 200 answered the questions.
Responses to the questionnaire show that inmates perceive the restraining order as illogical because service personnel such as lawyers, prosecutors, artisans, kiosks, and prison staff can enter and exit institutions to meet inmates and may contract the infection, and that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, against the policy of reducing the spread of infection by minimizing contact with the outside world – in several places forced inmates to share cells with newly adjusted inmates, to solve the problem of overcrowding.
– I understand very well the concerns they feel and that they think is incompatible with the restraining order and the revoked license, while some may come in and start serving their sentences without undergoing a proper health check and then additionally allow cell sharing with another, Ombudsman Katarina Påhlsson tells DN.
JO was critical on several points, but highlighted in particular how the restraining order affected the inmates’ relationship with their children. For seven months, the children of inmates have not had the opportunity to meet their parents in real life. The Ombudsman doubts that it is compatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and calls for immediate action to open.
Madeleine Kattel is the head of operations for the organization Bufff, Children and Youth with a parent / relative in prison, who helps children to detainees.
– These months have been very heavy and difficult for many children. Especially for those who have good regular contact with their parent or for those who have lost one of their parents in custody and have not been able to get to know them as they suddenly disappeared to see them and get answers to their questions. When there is a crisis like the current one in society, you want to be close to your loved ones and have contact with them.
– Many children have thoughts about what it will be like for mom or dad when it’s crown. All children have been informed about this virus and have learned to wash their hands. Of course, you are afraid of what it will be like for my parents if this virus enters. What type of doctor do they have and what help do they receive?
This thursday last week – at the same time that nursing homes opened the door – the opportunity was opened for children to visit parents who are in a class three institution – the lowest security class where the next step is to be released into society .
The first visits to class three took place this weekend, monitored with a Plexiglas window between the child and the parent.
– This weekend there was a visit of children to Svartsjö. All went well. In some cases, there were some children who wanted to hug their father. Then our staff had to reprimand them so they could sit on the other side of the plexiglass. This is difficult for children who have not known their parents for a long time, but also for our staff who will give them these instructions, says Gustav Borg, press secretary for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
Madeleine Kattel was just told that many children of Class 3 inmates chose not to visit their parents anyway because of the Plexiglas window.
– It becomes too difficult for them not to be able to touch and hug their parents.
In safety class 1 and 2 It may be relevant to open for visits by children with a Plexiglas window only in mid-November, according to the authority, but it all depends on the infection situation.
Lydia hasn’t seen her father in several months. Before he was arrested, she lived with him every two weeks. He does not know when he will meet his father again. You are in a Class 1 institution.
In the time since February, he has had time to go out at four, go to a riding camp for the first time, and turn one.
– I miss him a lot and I think about him and I wonder how he feels and what he does. When we meet again, I will hold him very tight.
It feels weird not knowing when she can hug her dad again and touch his hands.
– If there is going to be a plastic box between us when we meet, I may not want to go. I’m going to be too sad if I can’t hug him.
The Ombudsman criticizes how the Swedish Prison and Probation Service has implemented the restraining order for inmates. She writes that “the request to refuse visits must be restrictive. Strong humanitarian reasons preclude refusing to allow a prisoner to receive a family visit. As early as 1992, the Supreme Administrative Court emphasized that decisions on visitation permits have such effects on the prisoner that they should be appealed. “
The new restrictions, which imply restrictions on the freedom and rights of prisoners indefinitely during the pandemic, are only noted as a new routine for staff in an appendix to a manual. But formally, everything has continued as usual. Visitation permits have been granted, despite the fact that prisoners have not been allowed to receive visits.
For the inmate This means that it is not clear whether a higher court can judge your missed visits during these months.
– It will be a legally uncertain vacuum for inmates. I have a visiting permit issued on paper, but my visits may not take place, for how long then? says JO.
Madeleine Kattel in Bufff sees this as deeply troublesome:
– It should still be possible to try individual cases. Even if you understand that it is currently not possible to visit due to infection, there may be children where the individual need is so important that you need to be able to legally prove it against the risk of spreading the infection.
The Ombudsman review has been submitted to the Government.
Has there been a blanket ban on visiting prisons and institutions like this before?
– It’s not what I know, says JO Katarina Påhlsson.
Read more: Overcrowding and a restraining order raise concern in Stockholm institutions
