26.4.2021

Article from annual report 2020 – Children’s Rights in Mental Healthcare Should Be Better Safeguarded

During the year, the Parliamentary Ombudsman published three reports from visits to hospital departments where children and adolescents can be admitted without their consent.1 The visit reports show…

21.4.2021

Article from annual report 2020 – Increased Isolation and Stricter Conditions in Prison During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the spring of 2020, the Ombudsman’s Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has investigated the consequences of the pandemic on inmates in several prisons. The investigation concluded that many inmates…

15.4.2021

Annual report 2020

The Parliamentary Ombudsman Hanna Harlem submitted the annual reports for 2020 to the Second Vice President of the Storting, Morten Wold Every year, the Parliamentary Ombudsman submits two annual reports…

5.11.2020

Article about the use of Solidary confinement to Prevent the Spread of Covid-19 in Norwegian Prisons

The Norwegian NPM has recently contributed in the ICPA Newsletter. The article presents the key findings regarding the use of solitary confinement as a measure to prevent the spread of…

25.8.2020

Article from annual report 2019 – Special Report on Solitary Confinement in Norwegian Prisons

In June 2019, the Parliamentary Ombudsman submitted a Special Report to the Storting on Solitary Confinement and Lack of Human Contact in Norwegian Prisons. The report is based on findings from the National Preventive Mechanism’s (NPM) visits to 19 Norwegian prisons over the course of four years. The nature of these findings were so grave that we chose to compile them in a separate Special Report to the Storting – the most powerful instrument available to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

18.8.2020

Report – Protecting prison inmates during COVID-19 pendemic.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman has investigated the safeguarding of inmates in Norwegian prisons during the initial period following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation is based on information obtained…

13.8.2020

Guidance on Monitoring Places of Detention through the COVID-19 Pandemic is now available in different languages.

The association for the prevention of torture (APT) has in partnership with OSCE-ODIHR, elaborated a practical guidance on how NPMs can continue their monitoring functions in order to address these…

5.8.2020

Use of Restraint Beds in Norwegian Prisons

Strapping inmates into restraint beds is the most intrusive form of coercive measure at disposal in Norwegian prisons. Eighteen of the thirty-one high-security prisons in Norway have restraint beds. Being put in restraints can pose a considerable risk of both physical and psychological injury. During its visit to Norway in 2011, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) emphasised that removing restraint beds from Norwegian prisons should be a long-term goal. After its visit in 2018, the Committee further emphasised that the restraint beds should be removed from Norwegian prisons in its entirety.1

2.7.2020

Protecting prison inmates during COVID-19 pendemic – Summary and key feedbacks

The Parliamentary Ombudsman has investigated the safeguarding of inmates in Norwegian prisons during the initial period following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigation is based on information obtained…

2.7.2020

New visit report – Stavanger Health Trust Division of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care Services

The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s National Preventive Mechanism visited the Stavanger Health Trust Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care Services during the periods 8-10 October and 29-30 October 2019. We…