The Ombudsman has asked the Ministry of Justice to comment on the legality of detainees in detention facilities in Greenland being monitored around the clock.
This is stated in a press release from the Ombudsman, who conducted inspection visits to detention facilities and institutions in Greenland in 2025.
During the inspection visits, the Ombudsman found that the surveillance cameras in the detention facilities could not be turned off, which means that the prisoners are monitored around the clock.
In addition, the Ombudsman found that there was no furniture available in all the detention facilities used for detainees.
Only one mattress on the floor
Among other things, there was only one mattress on the floor in one detention facility, the press release states.
Police detention facilities in Greenland are only to be used for short-term detention, according to the rules. However, according to the Ombudsman, there are people who have spent several weeks and sometimes months in detention facilities.
According to the Greenland Prison and Probation Service, this is due to pressure on the capacity of the facilities.
- The duration of detention and camera surveillance has a great impact on the conditions and legal security of detainees, says the Ombudsman of the Folketing, Christian Britten Lundblad, in the press release.
- Therefore, there is a need for a closer investigation of the aforementioned conditions, so that it can be ensured that detainees are treated in accordance with their rights.
Men and women placed in the same ward
During his inspection visits, the Ombudsman has also found that female prisoners were placed in the same closed ward as male prisoners in the Nuuk Prison. In this connection, the Ombudsman asks the Greenland Prison Service to address the consequences this has for the prisoners' access to community.
The inspection visits have also given the Ombudsman the opportunity to make a number of recommendations to the Greenland Police and the Greenland Prison Service.
In relation to the Greenland Police, the recommendations concern, among other things, the police's supervision of prisoners in detention and the police's own control of the physical environment and electronic equipment in the detention facilities.
The recommendations to the Prison Service concern, among other things, the screening of new prisoners for suicide risk and medication management.
/ritzau/
