36 as possible is also violated in the case of female inmates, because all of them are placed in the Penal and Correctional Institution for Women in Požarevac. In spite of a major step forward in terms of occupational engagement of inmates, many of them are still without work. The number of employees who work on training and occupational engagement of inmates and the number of trainers at the Training and Occupational Engagement Department does not meet the occupational needs of convicts and persons found guilty of misdemeanours. Active individual and collective correctional work of corrections officers with convicts needs to be further intensified. There is a need to improve the system of subsequent reassignment of inmates in order to provide possibilities for transfers to better correctional groups as a reward for good behaviour, in order to reduce the currently high number of inmates who are released directly from closed wards of the correctional facilities. The programmes designed to provide social support and assistance to convicts after their release from the facilities remain perfunctory and convicts are largely left to their own devices once they are released back into the community, which increases the risk of their reoffending, as they are ill-prepared for life outside of prison. In this context, in the coming month and years we expect to see improvements as a result of implementation of the Law on Enforcement of Non-Custodial Sanctions and Measures and operation of the newly-formed custodial offices. Certain penal facilities (e.g. “Zabela” in Požarevac) lack corrections officers they need for proper correctional treatment of inmates, in particular for individual and group sessions with the inmates, which hinders functional and reward-based assignment of inmates to specific groups and the award of extended privileges to them. It has been found that many persons serving prison sentences are not able to spend their spare time during the day outside the dormitories, in communal areas with other inmates.104 Numerous shortcomings persist in the provision of health care to persons serving prison sentences. Most of the recommendations related to irregularities that had been observed in other facilities in the past105. Medical examinations upon admission to a prison facility are mostly superficial and do not follow a uniform protocol. This is primarily due to the lack of medical staff, especially physicians – both general practitioners and specialists in psychiatry. The lack of physicians at the Special Prison Hospital in Belgrade is particularly worrying. There are also shortcomings in the administration of medicines and treatment. At many facilities, these are administered by non-medical staff. Moreover, non-medical staff often attends medical examinations even when this is not demanded by a health care professional, which violates the inmates’ privacy and the right to confidentiality of their medical information. Persons serving prison sentences who have severe mental disorders are still placed in regular prison facilities, which are not adequate for their medical and psycho-social treatment. The Protector of Citizens is of the opinion that these persons should be placed in the Special Prison Hospital or an in-patient health care facility within their respective penal institution (which should have the capacity for their treatment), or in some other appropriate medical institution. Certain improvements have been made in the situation of persons deprived of liberty at the visited facilities as a result of the recommendations made by the Protector of Citizens. The facility in Šabac has hired another lawyer to provide professional legal assistance to an inmate who is subject to disciplinary proceedings. Measures have been undertaken to provide a Report of the Visit to the Penal and Correctional Facility in Šabac, No. 71-23/14, and Report of the Visit to the District Prison in Novi Sad, No. 71-77/14. 105 Annual NPM reports for 2012 and 2013. 104