Ombudsman Arlene Brock handled 109 complaints in 2012, a fifth of which were about the Ministry of Home Affairs.Her annual report for 2012 lists by government department how many complaints she dealt with, showing there were 23 about Home Affairs, including ten for Immigration, nine for Labour and Training, two for the Registry General and one for the Charities Commission.The other departments she received the most complaints about — ten each — were the Department of Planning and the Department of Corrections.Ms Brock told The Royal Gazette the number for Corrections represented a spike on previous years. “I think it’s because a lot of inmates understand that they can write to us,” she said.The complaints to the Ombudsman about Corrections included seven on unfair or oppressive action, one about an abuse of power and one about a mistake of law or fact.Seven cases are still being investigated, while the Ombudsman declined to look into two due to “existing process”. She found no maladministration in one case.The complaints about Labour and Training included four about unreasonable delays. Five complaints about Planning and four about Immigration were about negligence or unresponsiveness.The Ombudsman received a total of 166 complaints in 2012, but referred 57 to other agencies. Of the 109 she handled, she declined to investigate 32, addressed 30 and is still looking into 47.Her office is also still working on 42 historic cases dating back as far as 2005.Ms Brock’s report details how a group of foreign inmates wrote to her office complaining that the Parole Board’s policy of not granting parole to foreign inmates after they’ve served a third of their sentence, unlike their Bermudian counterparts, was unfair.She referred them to the 2010 Supreme Court decision regarding British prisoner Martin Cashman, who lost his claim that he was being discriminated against due to his nationality by being denied parole.The court found that parole for foreigners was next to impossible to obtain because they would not be able to get the necessary immigration approvals to work and support themselves upon release.Released prisoners with no right to reside here would have to be deported but might have only “toothless supervision” in their home countries.Based upon the court’s ruling, Ms Brock found no maladministration on the part of the Parole Board.Useful website: www.ombudsman.bm.