defendants undergo a PCR test after completing the quarantine period,103 before being admitted to a penitentiary establishment.104 Besides, during visits by the National Preventive Mechanism in November 2020, it was found that it was already possible for a prisoner in the facility to undergo rapid testing for a new coronavirus antigen if incarcerated during that period, in the presence of fever and/or other symptoms. At the same time, the quarantine area on the territory of the N10 penitentiary establishment started functioning on June 19, 2020 where 82 prisoners can be accommodated. Prisoners placed in civilian medical facilities in eastern Georgia for more than 24 hours to receive medical care are placed in quarantine areas. Prisoners are placed in a quarantine area for 2 weeks. It should be noted that during the visit to the facility on June 26, 2020, most of the inmates placed in the quarantine area were postoperative patients who required constant supervision and observation. It is noteworthy that no additional measures have been taken in relation to the new coronavirus for elderly convicts in the facility and patients with severe chronic diseases as a special risk group.105 There was no emergency monitoring of the health status of these individuals. The Public Defender believes that special risk group convicts should be identified106 and given special care.107 Convicts' health screening should be intensified to detect suspicious symptoms.108 Elderly prisoners who do not pose a real threat to public safety should be provided with the mechanisms provided by the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that the convict is released from serving a sentence due to old age;109 If this is not possible, then from an epidemiological point of view, prisoners at special risk should be placed in safe conditions under special medical supervision. In addition, medical staff did not have an action plan (guideline) for the prevention and management of COVID-19 in penitentiary facilities. The Public Defender believes that the Ministry should develop a document stating in detail to both medical and non-medical staff what their function is and how to act Medical quarantine spaces were arranged in N2, N5 and N8 institutions. In addition, from May 30, 2020, a penitentiary system triage center was established on the territory of the former N9 facility, and from the beginning of June 2020, a rapid test for newly received prisoners was launched in the N2, N5 and N8 facilities. If a rapid test is negative, a prisoner will be admitted to the penitentiary facility but will be placed in a medical quarantine zone for 21 days to undergo a daily medical examination. Only after the asymptomatic end of this period it is possible to admit a prisoner to the rest of the contingent in the facility, if the rapid test is positive, the prisoner will not be admitted to the penitentiary establishment and will be transferred for further medical observation/examination. After a 16-day period at the Penitentiary System Triage Center, the inmate undergoes a PCR test on the 17th day. If the test is negative, the prisoner is transferred to the so-called receiving penitentiary institution. See Special Summary Report of the Special Penitentiary Service 2020. The link is available at:https://bit.ly/3iWSsMq; [last visited: 29.01.2021]. 104 See the statement of the Special Penitentiary Service dated 13 October 2020: <https://bit.ly/3oGhz7x> [last visited: 03.02.2021]. 105 Recommendations of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) on the Coronavirus Pandemic to States Parties and National Prevention Mechanisms (adopted March 25, 2020), paragraphs 9 (a) and (m). An unofficial translation is available at the link <https://bit.ly/3p0womA> [last visited: 31.01.2021]. 106 The elderly and convicts with severe, chronic diseases belong to a special risk group. 107 Recommendations of the Subcommittee on Torture Prevention to the Coronavirus Pandemic for States Parties and National Prevention Mechanisms (adopted March 25, 2020), paragraphs 9 (a) and (m). 108 Preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in prisons and other places of detention (Interim guidance), WHO, March 2020, p. 9. 109 Criminal Procedural Code of Georgia, Article 284, Part 3. 103 49