of them were reflected in the resolution of the Parliament of Georgia and the relevant tasks were given to the public agencies27. None of the 7 proposals submitted to the Parliament of Georgia was implemented. One recommendation issued to the Government of Georgia was not implemented. Out of 52 recommendations issued to the Minister of Justice of Georgia, 2 recommendations were implemented, 2 recommendations were partly implemented, 1 recommendation could not be implemented due to objective reasons, Implementation status of 5 recommendations could not be assessed, and 42 recommendations are unimplemented at this stage. A penitentiary system compatible with international standards is inconceivable without the development of an appropriate legislative framework. An important role in this process is played by the Parliament of Georgia, on the effective work of which the improvement of the legal status of prisoners depends significantly. It is unfortunate that most of the proposals made to Parliament over the years are still unimplemented. The Public Defender expresses the readiness to enable substantial changes in the penitentiary system through close cooperation and communication with the Parliament. In the 2019 report of the National Preventive Mechanism the Public Defender drafted substantive proposals to the Parliament in order to improve prisoners' contact with the outside world. Among the proposals were: increasing the number of meetings and telephone calls for prisoners in special risk establishments and granting them with the right to use video conferencing; granting the accused with the right to use a long meeting taking into consideration the interests of the investigation; possibility to replace a long meetings with a telephone conversation or a video meeting; enabling foreign citizens to use short and long video conferencing for convicts whose families live abroad; prohibition of any kind of restriction on contact with the family in the form of a disciplinary sanction, unless such contact is related to a crime;28 however, it is unfortunate that none of the recommendations have been implemented. The implementation of the above proposals is especially important in the context of a pandemic as the extraordinary conditions in penitentiary institutions have significantly limited the contact of the accused/convict with the outside world. The Public Defender also requested that the obligation to provide the accused with a minimum living space of 4 sq.m. like that of the convicts to be determined at the legislative level, was also not fulfilled. For its part, the Government of Georgia has not complied with the recommendation to ensure that the country conducts forensic medical examinations in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol in order to effectively document and investigate torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. During 2020, the quality of cooperation with us by the Special Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia was low. Responses to the most of the letters sent to them were received late or not at all, which significantly hampered the process of analyzing various data and evaluating the Resolution of the Parliament of Georgia on the Report of the Public Defender of Georgia on the Situation of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia in 2019. 28 Visit of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to Georgia, par. 119, CPT/Inf (2015). 27 24