ULLERSMO PRISON (Dagbladet): Children, girlfriends, mothers, fathers and friends are not allowed to visit inmates at Ullersmo prison in Kløfta on weekends. The visiting department has been closed on Sundays for several years. Now also closed on Saturdays.

– For children at school, families with long journeys and those at work, this means in practice being refused visitors, said Frank, chairman of the prisoner contact committee.

Behind the walls sit isolated prisoners who feel they have lost touch with the most important thing in the outside world, namely their families.

According to Frank, the inmates cannot receive visitors from Friday at 13.00 to Monday.

– The most important periods for receiving visitors are weekends and public holidays, says Frank.

Children’s rights

He said the contact committee, which represents all inmates at Ullersmo, had held several meetings with prison management where they had expressed a desire to extend visiting hours on weekends and holidays.

– The decision to close the doors of the visiting department on Saturday was a big surprise for many relatives and inmates, Frank told Dagbladet.

He claimed the prison management was ignoring the Criminal Code, stating that emphasis should be placed on the right of children to be with their parents and that conditions should be facilitated for that.

– It doesn’t help if the prison has a visitors’ room if it’s closed, says Frank.

In November last year, the contact committee sent a letter to the prison in which they expressed concern about the greatly reduced situation of personnel and services since the pandemic.

On April 11 this year, the contact committee sent another letter to the prison in which they reiterated their concern.

“If the current situation continues, the consequences of rehabilitation will be even worse,” the contact committee wrote in the letter.

A lack of personnel was the main reason the visitors’ department was closed on Saturday.

Resource problem

Dagbladet has discussed the serious financial situation for Norwegian prisons and the ensuing consequences on several occasions.

Minister of Justice in a prison crisis meeting

– This is a difficult and unprofitable situation. Visits from friends and relatives are important for inmates and we want to facilitate them as much as possible, said Thomas Engebretsen, head of the visits department at Ullersmo prison.

He revealed that the whole situation was depressing.

– Due to staffing challenges, we are unable to sustain the offer of visitors on weekends for a certain period of time, said Engebretsen.

Engebretsen said the prison plans to return to normal operations in early June.