The Prison and Probation Service should obtain greater knowledge of inmates’ access to visits at Western Prison

Publiceret 03-06-2025

At present, the Department of Prisons and Probation does not know if the inmates at Western Prison get the visits they are entitled to according to the rules. This is because the Prison and Probation Service does not have the sufficient data basis to make this assessment.

The Department states this in a reply to the Parliamentary Ombudsman who therefore started an investigation of the visiting conditions at Western Prison after an unannounced monitoring visit to the prison. The monitoring visit was carried out in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture.

The Department adds in its reply to the Ombudsman that when you take the number of inmates and the Prison and Probation Service’s staffing problems plus complaints from the inmates’ spokespersons and relatives into consideration, there is, however, an indication that there are problems with ensuring regular visits for the inmates at Western Prison.

The Ombudsman finds grounds for having this concern. This is one of the reasons why the Ombudsman finds that the Prison and Probation Service should obtain a greater data basis so that it can be assessed if the rules about inmates’ right to get visits are being observed.

In this connection, the Ombudsman also recommends that the Department consider speeding up its follow-up on the work of a working group on visits from lawyers and relatives. The working group has recommended that the Prison and Probation Service’s data basis is optimised so that it will be possible to calculate, among other things, the number of requests for visits and the reasons for cancellations.

‘Being able to have visits from your closest family members, for example, is of great significance to inmates as well as relatives. Therefore, it is also important that the Department obtains the necessary knowledge in order to shed light on the extent of the problem, thereby contributing to ensuring that the rules about inmates’ right to get visits are observed’, says Parliamentary Ombudsman Christian Britten Lundblad.

Furthermore, the Ombudsman notes that Western Prison in the beginning of March this year implemented a new visiting model that allows for an additional 64 visits from relatives per month.

New visit booking system

In regard to Western Prison’s visit booking system by telephone – which the Ombudsman has received several complaints about – the Department of Prisons and Probation has stated that the Prison and Probation Service is working at setting up a digital platform intended to make it easier for relatives to request visits. The Department expects to initiate the implementation of a pilot solution in the second half of 2025.

On that basis, the Ombudsman is asking the Department to inform him of the status of the new booking system pilot project on 1 October 2025 at the latest. At the same time, he is also asking for information about what further deliberations the Prison and Probation Service has made about improvement of the telephone service at Western Prison.

Read the Ombudsman’s concluding letter in Danish.

Read the Ombudsman’s previous news items on the case:

Further details:

Director of International Relations Klavs Kinnerup Hede, kkh@ombudsmanden.dk

Facts

The Parliamentary Ombudsman carries out monitoring visits to public and private institutions, especially where people are or can be deprived of their liberty.

The monitoring visits are carried out in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture, which contribute with human rights and medical expertise.

On 4 September 2024, the Ombudsman carried out an unannounced monitoring visit to Western Prison.

Read the Ombudsman’s concluding letter after the monitoring visit, in Danish.

The rules on inmates’ right to get visits

It is set out in Section 51(1), 1st sentence, of the Sentence Enforcement Act that an inmate is entitled to at least one weekly visit of at least one hour’s duration and, as far as possible, of two hours’ duration (Consolidation Act No. 201 of 28 February 2023).

It is set out in Section 771(1), 1st sentence, of the Administration of Justice Act that a remand prisoner can receive visits to the extent that order and security in the remand prison are maintained (Consolidation Act No. 1160 of 5 November 2024).

According to Section 40(1), 1st sentence, of the Executive Order on Remand Custody, taking the restrictions set out in Sections 42-45 into account, a remand prisoner is entitled to visits as often as conditions allow. The visiting time cannot last less than half an hour. Longer visits must be permitted to the extent allowed by the conditions, cf. Section 41 of the Executive Order (Executive Order No. 1099 of 16 October 2024).