The Ombudsman will be visiting Denmark’s transitional prisons

Publiceret 19-01-2026

As the theme for his monitoring visits to institutions for adults in 2026, the Ombudsman will look at the transition from life as a prison inmate to life outside prison as it takes place in the Danish transitional prisons.

During the monitoring visits, the Ombudsman will focus on, among other things, the move from for instance a state or local prison to a transitional prison, the conditions during the stay in the transitional prison and the adjustment of moving from the transitional prison to the outside world.

‘It can be a challenge for inmates to get used to everyday life outside a prison. In that case, staying in a transitional prison can be good for adjusting to life outside the walls. During the coming monitoring visits in the transitional prisons, I therefore want to look at how the inmates are being prepared for life in freedom and how the cooperation works with for instance the municipalities’, says Parliamentary Ombudsman Christian Britten Lundblad.

The monitoring visits are carried out in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture.

When the monitoring year is over, the Ombudsman will summarise the most significant results in a thematic report.

 

Further information:

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

Facts

About the theme for 2026

The Ombudsman selects one or more themes for the year’s monitoring visits. In 2026, the theme for the Ombudsman’s monitoring visits to institutions for adults is the transition from the Danish Prison Service that takes place in Denmark’s transitional prisons.

The purpose of the year’s theme is, among other things, to collect knowledge about the transitional prisons’ initiatives and activities that are meant to prepare the inmates for release and ensure a good transition into life outside of the Danish Prison Service. The purpose is also to investigate whether the inmates are treated with dignity, consideration and in accordance with their rights during their stay in the transitional prisons.

Generally on the Ombudsman’s monitoring visits

The Ombudsman’s monitoring visits are directed at areas of the public administration where citizens are deprived of their liberty or are in other ways in a vulnerable situation. 

Read more about the Ombudsman’s monitoring visits and themes.