In July, 2018 an inmate at Saltvik prison died after having refused to eat food for two months. The Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman has investigated the circumstances surrounding the death. In the decision she makes certain statements regarding the Prison and Probation Service’s responsibility for inmates that refuse to eat and notes that it is not enough that the authority’s staff members’ check on the inmate on a daily basis but that also medical staff should be involved. Instructions given, by medical staff, to other staff members shall be based on current and updated information, which presumes that qualified medical staff shall, on a daily basis, meet the inmate to assess if measures taken and decided on are enough.

In the decision, the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman states that it is the Prison and Probation Service’s obligation to take an inmate from a prison to a health care facility, if it is necessary for an inmate to be examined or treated at a health care facility. According to the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman situations may arise where the Prison and Probation Service may need to consider taking an inmate to a hospital, even if the inmate has expressed that he or she does not consent to the transport. The conditions for conducting a thorough examination are considerably better at a health care facility than at a prison, if a serious situation would occur. In an emergency situation it can also be difficult to obtain a reliable assessment of an inmate’s capability to assess their own situation.

The Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman also comments on the ability to decide on CPR against an inmate’s wishes, and the prison’s planning of transport of the inmate to a hospital.