Monitoring visits to institutions etc. for children in 2025

The table immediately below first shows the number of monitoring visits which we carried out to institutions etc. for children in 2025. This is followed by the numbers of talks we had with children and young people, with parents and with staff in addition to the management in connection with the visits. Under the OPCAT[1], the Ombudsman cooperates with DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (IMR), which participate in monitoring visits, among other things. Therefore, the table also shows the numbers of visits in which DIGNITY and IMR participated. In addition, it shows the numbers of announced and unannounced visits and how many visits were concluded with and without recommendations, respectively.

Below the table is a list of the monitoring visits which we carried out in 2025. Click the individual visit for information about the type of institution etc. visited and any special focus of the visit, whether the visit was announced or unannounced, how many talks we had with children/young people, with parents and with staff, and whether DIGNITY and/or IMR participated in the visit. This information is followed by a list of any recommendations given to the institution. If the visit caused the Ombudsman to open one or more cases on his own initiative at the same time, this is also stated.

[1] OHCHR | Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT)

 
NUMBER OF VISITS 10
TALKS WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE 37
TALKS WITH PARENTS 24
TALKS WITH STAFF 48
WITH PARTICIPATION OF DIGNITY 9
WITH PARTICIPATION OF IMR 5
ANNOUNCED/UNANNOUNCED VISITS 9/1
CONCLUDED WITH RECOMMENDATIONS 8
CONCLUDED WITHOUT RECOMMENDATIONS 2
 

State prison (units for young offenders)

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 7 young people, 6 staff, management and 4 parents

IMR and DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that Søbysøgård Prison

  • ensure that uniformed staff in the units for young offenders know the rules that apply to the treatment of young people placed in institutions under the Prison and Probation Service
  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • in cooperation with the Prison and Probation Service West, Health, ensure compliance with the health legislation rules on informing and involving custodial parents

Unit for young offenders in state prison

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 2 young people, 8 staff, management and 2 parents

The visiting team recommended that Western Prison

  • ensure that uniformed staff in the unit for young offenders know the rules that apply to the treatment of young people placed in institutions under the Prison and Probation Service
  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • ensure that on arrival of young inmates, a special treatment plan is drawn up as soon as possible, for example in the form of education or activation programmes for the young person in question
  • endeavour to ensure that there is access to additional activities for young people or contact with uniformed staff in the evening on weekdays and generally during the weekend

Local prison

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 2 young people, 5 staff, management and 2 parents

DIGNITY participated

The visit did not give cause for recommendations

Local prison

Announced visit

DIGNITY participated

Talks with 1 young person, 4 staff, management and 3 parents

The visiting team recommended that ‘Aalborg Arrest’

  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • ensure that on arrival of underage inmates, a special treatment plan is drawn up as soon as possible, for example in the form of education or activation programmes for the young person in question

State prison

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 2 young people, 4 staff, management and 3 parents

IMR and DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that Nyborg Prison

  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • ensure that the institution manager’s instruction that toilet cubicles not be used for temporary locking up of inmates against their will is implemented and observed in the prison’s daily practice
  • ensure that a doctor is immediately asked to perform a medical check if an underage inmate as an exception is placed in a security cell, and that information about summoning of a doctor and medical checks appears from the report concerning the placement in a security cell
  • ensure that on arrival of underage inmates, a special treatment plan is drawn up as soon as possible, for example in the form of education or activation programmes for the young person in question

State prison

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 4 staff and management

DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that Horserød Prison

  • ensure documentation of the treatment of underage inmates in the prison in accordance with the relevant applicable rules
  • ensure that underage inmates are not temporarily excluded from association unless the conditions for this are met, and that there is sufficient documentation concerning the exclusion

 

Local prison

Unannounced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 3 staff and management

IMR and DIGNITY participated

The visit did not give cause for recommendations

Local prison

The monitoring visit concerned a young person who had been placed in the local prison for an extended time

Announced visit

Talks with 1 young person, 3 staff and management

DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that ‘Assens Arrest’

  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • ensure that records are made about permissions for young inmates’ association with adults without the presence of staff, and that the records show the reasons why the association is deemed to be in accordance with the young person’s interests

Local prison

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 8 young people (one of whom was 18 on the day of the visit), management and 5 staff

IMR and DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that ‘Odense Arrest’

  • organise the case processing so that both underage inmates and custodial parents can exercise the rights of a party, and in this connection ensure that custodial parents are informed and guided in a way that enables them to handle the underage person’s interests and needs as legal party representatives
  • ensure that records are made about permissions for young inmates’ association with adults without the presence of staff, and that the records show the reasons why the association is deemed to be in accordance with the young person’s interests
  • ensure that on arrival of underage inmates, a special treatment plan is drawn up as soon as possible, for example in the form of education or activation programmes for the young person in question
  • in cooperation with Prison District West, Health, ensure compliance with the health legislation rules on informing and involving custodial parents

Secure residential institution with a special secure unit

Announced visit

Walk-through

Talks with 14 children and young people, 10 parents, 2 representatives from the Red Cross, management and 6 staff

IMR and DIGNITY participated

The visiting team recommended that Egely

 

  • ensure that all staff have the necessary knowledge of the rules on use of force and coercion pursuant to the adult responsibility legislation
  • in cooperation with the Region continue to focus on ensuring that guidelines etc. on use of force and coercion are in accordance with the relevant rules of the adult responsibility legislation
  • ensure that the children, the young people and custodial parents in connection with the placement are informed – in a language they understand – of their rights in relation to use of force, coercion and other interventions in the right to self-determination, including their right to complain to the National Social Appeals Board and the Municipal Council, respectively
  • continue to focus on ensuring that written information for the children and the young people on adult responsibility legislation and their rights in relation to, among other things, use of force, coercion or other interventions in the right to self-determination is in accordance with the relevant rules of the adult responsibility legislation
  • in cooperation with the Region revise the guidelines on solitary confinement so that it is clear that in immediate connection with the decision to place children and young people with mental health issues in solitary confinement, a psychiatric specialist attached to the institution or – if this is not possible – a general medical practitioner must be summoned
  • revise the house rules so that they contain all mandatory house rules that apply to a secure residential institution or a special secure residential institution
  • ensure that staff have the necessary knowledge of the house rules with a view to enforcing them consistently
  • increase focus on ensuring that reports about use of force, coercion and other interventions in the right to self-determination contain a sufficient description of and the grounds for the intervention
  • ensure that force, coercion and other interventions in the right to self-determination are used in accordance with the adult responsibility legislation
  • ensure that Egely's practice for access to telephone calls and other electronic communication is in accordance with the applicable rules, including in relation to children and young people who are not subject to communication control
  • in cooperation with the municipality of location ensure that the children and the young people receive the education they are entitled to
  • focus on ensuring access to additional activities for children and young people.

In addition, the visit gave cause for an investigation of Egely's special education programme and an investigation of the staff situation and its consequences for the professional quality and pedagogical approach at Egely.