Situation at Penitentiary Establishments carried out against them in the past, inmates of Zugdidi N4 establishment continue to refrain from giving explanations regarding ill-treatment against them. A part of inmates noted that their treatment improved significantly, though another part says that they did not suffered any ill- treatment in the past. Penitentiary establishment No 8 In recent years, during the conducted monitoring inmates refrained from writing explanatory notes with regards to ill-treatment towards them, often not even talking about this, while those who spoke in details about facts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted on them or towards any other inmates, very often used to name specific persons called Ango, Khonski and Beka Mzhavanadze. During the monitoring held in 2011 they spoke about some blonde, blue-eyed worker named Oleg1. More often during the monitoring in other establishments the Preventive Group was told about inhuman treatment exercised toward inmates in Gldani N8 establishment but even then they refrained from making the facts publicly known. A large part of problems described in reports of Public Defender was based on results of observations of the Preventive Group. Tense atmosphere and a factor of fear were always felt among inmates in N8 establishment. The above was very apparent for the Preventive Group although during interviews inmates maintained that they felt very well and they did not have any particular problem in the establishment. And this was happening at the time when they were under unjustified restrictions, namely: they were prohibited from lying down or sleeping on their beds in cells during a day, but at 10pm they were definitely supposed to be in beds and asleep; they could not smoke a cigarette in a cell and were allowed only to do so in a cell toilet where several inmates used to go together to smoke in the confinement of 1 square meter; at any kind of noise of a cell door be it opening of a small window on a cell door or that of an observation one all inmates without exception should have stand up and form a line near beds; prison guards used to compel inmates to keep duty which meant that one inmate was responsible for behaviour of other inmates in his cell and even a small slip committed by his cellmates could have led to his punishment; inmates were prohibited from approaching a cell window and looking out of it; they were prohibited from talking in a normal voice and they just whispered between each other; they were banned from hanging their laundry in a cell and had to keep their wet clothes and bed linen in cupboards; they were not allowed to laugh; they were not allowed to listen to a radio on a normal volume and only allowed to listen to it with radio device close to their ears; upon admission to the establishment prisoners were made to sign an agreement on cooperation which was later successfully used to blackmail them; always an uncommon silence for such a crowded establishment (some 4 000 prisoners) reigned in the prisoner accommodation blocks. From the outset penitentiary establishment No 8 in Gldani was known for abundance of facts of negligence and violation of inmate rights. Public Defender pointed to facts of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment in Gldani N8 prison in his numerous reports. Though, unfortunately, all these facts were mainly left without appropriate response on the part of both investigative agencies and high-rank officials of the Penitentiary Department. Many recommendations that referred to transfer of inmates to other establishments for the purpose of their protection from possible retribution, were not fulfilled by the department. All these recommendations had the same standard response on the part of the chairman of the penitentiary department stating that “safety of a prisoner is ensured and there is no need to transfer him to another establishment”. 1 They mean Oleg Patsatsia NPM Report 2012 And in case of not taking into consideration all the aforementioned and many other restrictions and bans inmates were tortured, treated inhumanly, beaten up, left shut in shower rooms and punished in other ways, including transferring to a solitary cell or a quarantine for punishment. Also Public Defender has repeatedly focused his attention on poor conditions in this establishment when simultaneously dozens of prisoners had to stay for weeks in a quarantine cell designed to hold 8 persons and where there was no possibility to keep basic hygiene. There were not enough plates and dishes, anti sanitary was blossoming and the cell was constantly overcrowded. People were usually punished with sending to a solitary cell or a quarantine cell for such violations as “making noise” which implied speaking in a normal voice or even laughing. Sometimes a request for a doctor too considered to be a “noise” and could have become a cause for punishment.