The Parliamentary Ombud calls for greater awareness within the correctional services of prisoners’ right to private and family life and of the importance of such contact for mental health and quality of life.
“Contact with family and friends can be decisive for prisoners’ mental health during their sentence and for preventing re-offending. It is equally important for the family. Children are entitled to contact with a parent who is in prison,” says Parliamentary Ombud Hanne Harlem.
Limited phone time
Generally, prisoners in high-security facilities may use the phone for 30 minutes per week and receive one visit of about an hour. Video calls are also possible, but the regulations are unclear, and in many prisons inmates must choose between a video call or an in-person visit.
Overall, the findings point to a clear need to strengthen prisoners’ opportunities to maintain contact with family and friends.
The report was presented to the Directorate of Correctional Services at a meeting on Tuesday, 8 April. The Directorate is responsible for following up the issues identified in the report.
Key findings
- Prisons pay insufficient attention to children’s right to contact with a parent who is incarcerated.
- The regulations are applied strictly, making it difficult to obtain more than 30 minutes of phone time per week.
- Rejections of applications for extended phone time are often inadequately reasoned.
- There are too few phones and tablets available in the prisons.
- High call charges particularly affect prisoners with family outside of Europe.
- In some prisons, phone calls take place in locations where others may overhear the conversation.
About the report
The report is based on findings from 29 visits to high-security prisons carried out between 2014 and 2024. The visits were undertaken by the Parliamentary Ombud’s National Preventive Mechanism, which works to prevent inhuman or degrading treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in Norway.