Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen has issued a decision on a complaint concerning a person with paraplegia who had been transported without a wheelchair to a police prison, where the facilities were not accessible for the complainant who had reduced mobility. Among other things, the complainant had been forced to defecate at different sides of the cell while lying on their side.

The Ombudsman finds that the treatment of the complainant during detention violated the complainant’s human dignity and the rights guaranteed by the Finnish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Ombudsman has drawn the attention of the police department to deficiencies, such as the accessibility of facilities, and issued a reprimand to the police department for future reference on 

• procedures that violate the principle of respecting fundamental and human rights stipulated in the Police Act
• lack of access to the toilet
• having meals on the floor
• insufficient supervision 
• the refusal of reasonable accommodation

The Ombudsman has requested the National Police Board to obtain a report of each police prison on how the prisons have accommodated for people with disabilities and reduced mobility and prepared for arranging reasonable accommodation. He has asked the National Police Board to give a statement on the reports and to consider issuing instructions on these matters.

n addition, Jääskeläinen proposes that the National Police Board consider whether training on the rights of persons with disabilities should be organised for police personnel and whether related general guidance should be issued. 

The Ombudsman draws the serious attention of the National Police Board and the Ministry of the Interior to the deficiencies in the facilities and structures of the police prison in question. The facilities were meant to be temporary, but they have been in use for years.

The Ombudsman proposes that the State of Finland compensate the complainant for any violations committed against them. The Parliamentary Ombudsman has sent his decision to the State Treasury and requested it to decide on compensation.

The Ombudsman has requested the police department to report on its measures by 31 May 2024, and the National Police Board, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Treasury to report by 30 September 2024.

When processing the complaint, it was revealed that the complainant had been transported to the police prison on the floor of the back of a police vehicle. On the way, there were road sections with a speed limit of up to 100 km/h. The Ombudsman has taken up the investigation of the transport safety of police vehicles on his own initiative.

The full text of Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen’s decision no 151/2023 has been published (in Finnish) on the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s website at www.oikeusasiamies.fi.