The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) made a visit to Bergen Prison on 2-4 May 2018. The visit was part of the follow-up of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report following its previous visit to Bergen Prison in 2014. The main purpose of the visit in 2018 was to investigate the prison’s practices in connection with exclusion from company and time spent outside the cells.
It emerged during the visit that there were regularly inmates at Bergen Prison with such severe mental disorders and low level of functioning that they were generally unable to be part of the ordinary prison community. These inmates risked being excluded for long periods of time. In addition, there were several inmates who, due to mental disorders, among other things, chose to isolate themselves.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman takes a very serious view of the situation in which individuals with mental health problems are subject to longterm exclusion. The Norwegian authorities have a duty to ensure that inmates with mental disorders who are detained in prisons are not subjected to degrading or inhuman treatment.
Read the full visit report from Bergen Prison