Monitoring visits to institutions etc. for children in 2023

The table immediately below shows the number of visits carried out and the total numbers of talks we had with children and young people (referred to as ‘users’) and with relatives, guardians, patient advisers and other inmates in Jyderup Prison (referred to as ‘relatives etc.’). The Ombudsman cooperates on monitoring activities with DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (IMR), which participate in a number of monitoring visits, among other things. Therefore, the table also shows the total numbers of visits in which DIGNITY and IMR participated. In addition, it shows the numbers of announced and unannounced visits, how many visits were concluded with and without recommendations, respectively, and the number of visits (if any) which have not been concluded yet.

This information is followed by a list of the institutions visited. Click the individual visit to read a description of the institution and any special focus of the visit, the numbers of talks with users and with relatives etc., whether DIGNITY and/or IMR participated and, finally, any recommendations given to the institution. 

NUMBER OF VISITS 10
TALKS WITH USERS 38
TALKS WITH RELATIVES ETC 88
WITH PARTICIPATION OF DIGNITY 10
WITH PARTICIPATION OF IMR 6
ANNOUNCED/UNANNOUNCED VISITS 10/0
CONCLUDED WITH RECOMMENDATIONS 8
CONCLUDED WITHOUT RECOMMENDATIONS 0
PENDING 2
 

Women’s prison with remand unit and an open and closed unit

The monitoring visit covered conditions for children in all units.

Talks with six relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that Jyderup Prison

  • draw up written guidelines on the processing of requests to have your child with you and on the division of responsibilities between Jyderup Prison and the area office in Ringsted

  • ensure that requests to have your child with you in the institution are processed in accordance with the relevant rules and documented to the necessary extent
  • ensure that staff are trained in the notification obligation rules, including that the planned training is carried out

  • consider drawing up written guidelines on how to handle concern for a child, including retrieving information for the use of notification after the Social Services Act
  • standardise the written guidelines to the staff on conditions for mother and child in the prison and consider if they should be used in the closed unit also, and ensure that the staff are familiar with the guidelines to the relevant extent
  • make clear to the staff the responsibility they have regarding mediation between inmates with children and other inmates, plus supporting and guiding an inmate who has her child with her

  • finish the instruction on the handling of a threat to harm children in the prison
  • ensure that children, regardless of the prison unit they are staying in, have access to age-appropriate facilities both indoors and outdoors

  • consider, in dialogue with Holbæk Municipality, if health visitors to a relevant extent can also visit children above the age of 1 due to the special circumstances that children in prison live under

Five inpatient units

Talks with five users and six relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Centre, Glostrup

  • continue to focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child

  • ensure that newly employed staff receive relevant training on conflict management within reasonable time
  • continue to focus on record-keeping, including in connection with documentation of follow-up interviews and complaint guidance given, and when adding the names of the involved staff in protocols on use of force
  • in cooperation with the region ensure that guidance on forced immobilisation is in accordance with the applicable rules for mandatory reviews
  • ensure that the mandatory review of forced immobilisations takes place in accordance with the time restrictions stipulated in Section 21(4) of the Mental Health Act, that deviation from this only takes place if a medical assessment deems it harmful to wake the patient, and that such a decision is noted in the patient’s records

Three inpatient units

Talks with seven users and 11 relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Centre, Bispebjerg

  • continue to focus on record-keeping, including in connection with documentation of follow-up interviews and complaint guidance given, and when adding the names of the involved staff in protocols on use of force
  • ensure that the mandatory review of forced immobilisations takes place in accordance with the time restrictions stipulated in Section 21(4) of the Mental Health Act, that deviation from this only takes place if a medical assessment deems it harmful to wake the patient, and that such a decision is noted in the patient’s records

One inpatient unit

Talks with three users and 11 relatives etc.

DIGNITY participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Viborg

  • focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • ensure that staff receive training on the rules pertaining to (forced) immobilisation and use of physical coercion in relation to children under the age of 15
  • focus on record-keeping, including in connection with documentation of follow-up interviews
  • consider whether the segment on compensation in the house rules is correct

One inpatient unit

Talks with two users and five relatives etc.

DIGNITY participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Gødstrup

  • focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • focus on record-keeping, including in connection with documentation of follow-up interviews, written and verbal information given, and when adding the names of the involved staff in protocols on use of force
  • consider whether the segment on compensation in the house rules is correct

One inpatient unit

Talks with two users and eight relatives etc.

DIGNITY participated.

The monitoring team recommended that Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Odense

  • focus on record-keeping, including the consultant doctor’s approval of notes on protocols on use of force so that the notes are not marked as ‘draft’, and when adding the date of the consultant doctor’s decision and names of the involved staff in the protocol on use of force
  • continue to focus on follow-up interviews, including with parents of children under the age of 15, being held in accordance with applicable rules on interviews following cessation of forcible measures and coercion in psychiatric departments
  • ensure that the mandatory review of forced immobilisations takes place in accordance with the time restrictions stipulated in Section 21(4) of the Mental Health Act
  • consider whether the wording used in the segment on compensation in the house rules is correct
  • in cooperation with the region adapt the guideline ‘Frihedsberøvelse og anden tvang i psykiatrien’ (‘Deprivation of liberty and other forcible measures in psychiatry’), item 3.13, so that it shows that patient advisers must also be appointed to children under the age of 15 when their parents have not consented to use of force

One inpatient unit

Talks with three users and five relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Aalborg

  • continue to focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • ensure that staff receive training on the rules pertaining to (forced) immobilisation and use of physical coercion in relation to children under the age of 15
  • continue to focus on record-keeping, including in connection with complaint guidance given and when adding the names of the staff involved in protocols on use of force
  • continue to focus on follow-up interviews, including with parents of children under the age of 15, being held in accordance with applicable rules on interviews following cessation of forcible measures and coercion in psychiatric departments

Three inpatient units

Talks with four users and 11 relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Skejby

  • continue to focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • focus on record-keeping, including in connection with appointment of patient advisers
  • focus on follow-up interviews, including with parents of children under the age of 15, being held in accordance with applicable rules on interviews following cessation of forcible measures and coercion in psychiatric departments

Four inpatient units

Talks with six users and 16 relatives etc.

DIGNITY participated.

The monitoring team recommended that the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Roskilde

  • continue to focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • in cooperation with the region ensure that guidelines on forced immobilisation as well as reporting and recording of protocols on use of force are in accordance with the applicable rules, including on mandatory review and recording of belt restraints
  • focus on record-keeping, including in connection with verbal and written notification and complaint guidance given and when adding the names of the involved staff in protocols on use of force
  • continue to focus on follow-up interviews, including with parents of children under the age of 15, being held in accordance with applicable rules on interviews following cessation of forcible measures and coercion in psychiatric departments
  • continue to consider whether the segment on compensation in the house rules is correct, and whether restriction of access to leave the unit when the house rules are violated is in accordance with Section 2 c of the Mental Health Act

One inpatient unit

Talks with six users and nine relatives etc.

DIGNITY and IMR participated.

The monitoring team recommended that Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Aabenraa

  • continue to focus on ensuring that the required information is given to custodial parents of a child under the age of 15 about the possibility of waiving the right to decide on use of force or coercion towards the child
  • focus on record-keeping, including in connection with appointment of patient advisers and drawing up of advance statements
  • continue to focus on having follow-up interviews with children and young people who have been subjected to force and with parents of children under the age of 15 who have given consent to the use of force
  • focus on documenting that there is a specially assigned staff member for immobilisations, including that a record entry is made every 15 minutes in accordance with Section 16 of the Mental Health Act