15th November 2009
The Children’s Ombudsman has set up an expert group to learn more about the situation of children with imprisoned parents. The members of the expert groups are children with experiences from being in this situation. The children have had three meetings so far with the Children’s Ombudsman Reidar Hjermann.
At the meetings they are accompanied by Eurochips member FFP, who has recruited the children and supports them. The group was recently on an inspection at Norway ’s biggest prison, Oslo prison, which has almost 400 offenders. The expert group looked at the visiting facilities. At a meeting with the prison director they gave advice on how to improve the conditions for children, and notably on how to improve visiting facilities.
As a result of the expert group’s feedback, the visiting area will be renovated and will feature larger bigger rooms with windows etc and there will be new furniture and other equipment). It was agreed that the expert group would come back one year from now for a new inspection to see the improvement. A press agency was present at the expert groups’ visit in the prison, and articles were published in various newspapers.