Detention in the Ministry of Justice’s establishments 8. The situation as regards physical ill-treatment of prisoners by staff remains alarming in the three prisons visited in 2015. Many allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment (usually consisting of slaps, punches, kicks and truncheon blows) were again heard at Sofia and Burgas Prisons and, at Varna Prison, the Committee’s delegation was flooded with such allegations. In a number of cases, the delegation found medical evidence consistent with the allegations received. 9. At Sofia IDF, a clear deterioration was noted with a significant rise in the number of allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment (slaps, punches and kicks) of inmates, including juveniles, by staff. 10. The findings of the CPT’s 2012 and 2014 visits show that inter-prisoner violence remains omnipresent at Sofia and Burgas Prisons; such episodes were again witnessed by the delegation during the 2015 visit. Frequent occurrences of inter-prisoner violence were also reported at Varna Prison. 11. As described in the reports on the visits carried out in 2012 and 2014, and as acknowledged by the Bulgarian authorities, corruption remains endemic in the Bulgarian prison system. In the three prisons visited in the course of the 2015 visit, the delegation was again inundated with allegations of prisoners being asked to pay custodial, administrative, and/or medical staff for many services provided for by the law (e.g. transfers to prison hostels, early release, access to medical care, transfers to hospitals, procurement of goods, access to education/vocational training, work, etc.) or for being granted various privileges (such as leave and additional or open-type visits). This situation brings in its wake discrimination, violence, insecurity and, ultimately, a loss of respect for authority. General Report of the CPT, 2015 ► Page 72 12. Overcrowding remains a very problematic issue in the Bulgarian prison system. For example, at Burgas Prison, the vast majority of inmates had less than 2 m² of living space in multipleoccupancy cells, with the notable exception of the remand section. The situation at Sofia Prison remained similar to that observed in the past, with most inmates having just a little more than 2 m² of living space per person. 13. The material conditions at Sofia, Burgas, and Varna Prisons remained characterised by an ever-worsening state of dilapidation. In particular, most of the sanitary facilities in these three prisons were totally decrepit and unhygienic, and the heating systems functioned for only a few hours per day. The majority of prisoners still did not benefit from ready access to a toilet during the night and had to resort to buckets or bottles to comply with the needs of nature. The kitchens at Burgas and Varna Prisons (and the dining hall at Varna Prison) remained filthy and unhygienic and infested with vermin, with leaking and over-flowing sewage pipes, and walls and ceilings covered in mould. Most parts of the establishments visited were unfit for human accommodation and represented a serious health risk for both inmates and staff. To sum up, in the Committee’s view, the material conditions alone in the three prisons visited could be seen as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment.23 14. The vast majority of inmates (including almost all the remand prisoners) in the three prisons visited in the course of the 2015 visit still had no access to organised out-of-cell activities and were left in a state of idleness for up to 23 hours per day. 23. See also the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 27 January 2015 in the case of Neshkov and Others v. Bulgaria (applications nos. 36925/10, 21487/12, 72893/12, 73196/12, 77718/12 and 9717/13).