National Preventive Mechanism CONTACTS WITH OUTSIDE WORLD Short-term visit Except visit rooms in closed unit of juvenile institutions and N15 establishment visits in all establishments are carried out in glass-partitioned room where an inmate is deprived of every kind of physical contact with his/her family members. In some cases the glass on each side has an iron grid which even restricts a visitor from proper view. The European Committee for the prevention of Torture (CPT) issued a recommendation to relevant bodies to overview the issue of visits so that prisoners are given possibility to see visitors in less constrained situation. All limitations set with this view, in the opinion of the committee, shall be based on individual assessment of risks in every concrete case. According to the Committee, “any restrictions on such contacts should be based exclusively on security concerns of an appreciable nature or considerations linked to available resources. Open visiting arrangements should be the rule and closed ones the exception, based on well-founded and reasoned decisions following individual assessment of the potential risk posed by a particular prisoner or visitor”.23 In accordance with paragraph 7 of the article 17 of the Imprisonment Code, Short visits are organized for the period of one to two hours. During the monitoring held in summer, as prisoners said, practice in different establishments were different – duration of a visit in penitentiary establishments N8 and N2 was 40-45 minutes; in N4 establishment – 1520 minutes; N3 establishment – 10-15 minutes. During the winter monitoring it became clear, that duration of visits in all establishments constituted an hour, which can be assessed positively. Long-term visit A long-term visit, first of all, is the best way for resocialization and maintenance of close contact with family that can be of critical importance to all convicts placed in closed-type establishments. A change introduced in the the Imprisonment Code shall be assessed positively according to the paragraph 9 of the article172, the long-term visits are not granted to convicts placed in the quarantine regime. 24With the view of implementation of the right to a long-term visit, the Georgian Ministry of Corrections, Probation and Legal Assistance shall provide for necessary conditions and exercising of the right to a long-term visit in women’s and closed-type penitentiary institutions no later than December 31st, 2015. 25 Infrastructure is provided for long-term prisoners in establishment N16 though so far it can be used by convicts sentenced to life-imprisonment. Infrastructure for long-term visits exists in N6, N11, N14, N15 and N16 establishment. In the reporting period from January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2012 long-term visits were used by 5995 convicts: 110 convicts used it in N6 establishment; 30 convicts - in N11 establishment; 1662 – in N14 establishment; 469 – in N15 establishment and 1941 – in N16 establishment; 1783 convicts - in N17 establishment. Video communication According to the paragraph 1 of the article 17 of the Imprisonment Code, “all convicts in penitentiary establishments, except for defendants of particularly grave crimes and persons stipulated in the subparagraph “c” of Article 1 of the Artile 50 of the Imprisonment Code, are entitle to the right to use a video communication (direct verbal and visual video bridge) with any person”. 23 24 25 Visit to Georgia from MArch 21 to April 2, 2007, parag. 91 22.05.2012 N 6257 (to take effect on the 15th day from the publication) Effective since January 1, 2011; www.ombudsman.ge NPM Report