and safety of prisoners, the use of violent and repressive methods should be avoided in order to avoid possible torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.79 Unfortunately, the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and the Special Penitentiary Service have not confirmed the existence of informal ruling practices in penitentiary establishments, and instead the Public Defender has been subjected to illegal actions by the Minister of Justice and the Penitentiary Service, which is alarming. In addition, in the recent months, a certain group of prisoners run by the administration of the facilities and the so-called "prison watchers" systematically carried out verbal attacks, threats and aggression against members of the Public Defender's Office in order to prevent a special preventive group from communicating with the prisoners and monitor the prison area. For example, on October 31, 2020, and again, on January 14, 2021, a specific group of prisoners in the N15 facility did not allow the Public Defender's staff to monitor the voting process first, and then to interview the doctor of the facility; on December 4, 2020 and January 13, 2021, the same prisoner in the N8 facility threatened the staff of the Public Defender's Office and demanded to stop the visit to the prison;80 on January 13, 2021, a specific group of prisoners behaved aggressively with the representatives of the Public Defender in the Establishment N17, who also demanded that the Public Defender stop his visits because in prison “everything was fine".81 In the opinion of the Public Defender, the manifestation of such form and scale of aggression by privileged prisoners in penitentiary facilities towards the Public Defender's institution further highlights the repressive, violent methods of informal ruling and the risk factors of violence faced by other nonprivileged prisoners. It also highlights the fact that they have the support of the administration According to the rules of informal management, writing a complaint is unacceptable and the complainant will be punished accordingly. Due to the fear of repression, prisoners are forced to follow informal rules, in the absence of which, the prisoner is expelled from the community, any relationship with him becomes unacceptable to prisoners, leading to a loss of his dignity, status and respect. Due to these circumstances, instead of writing a complaint, they appeal to influential, privileged prisoners, and in case of controversy, do not provide the administration with information about the fact of the conflict. In 2020, a special preventive group conducted a monitoring visit to the facility N17, during which inmates talked about the problems in the facility in a confidential environment, which was confirmed by a review of documentation by the group. Most of the prisoners had complaints about living conditions, the scheduling and availability of medical services, however, under the influence of the subculture, the prisoners refrained from sending letters and complaints to the Public Defender. During the visit, the members of the Special Preventive Group noticed the activity of a certain group of convicts, which was expressed in the interference of convicts in the communication process of the members of the Special National Preventive Mechanism 2019 Report. Pp.55-58. Available at: https://www.ombudsman.ge/res/docs/2020033122424787329.pdf [last visited: 02.02.2021] 80 Establishment N8 is a closed facility and it is noteworthy that this prisoner always moved to a specific area of the facility when members of a special preventive group visited the facility. 81 See the Special Statement of the Public Defender of Georgia on January 20, 2021 regarding the situation in penitentiary institutions: < https://bit.ly/2YBajzd [last visited: 02.02.2021]. 79 43