Cooperation with the Ministry of Justice According to the changes made on July 5, 2018,11 the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia merged with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and a state sub-agency operating within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia - Special Penitentiary Service – was founded. Due to the ongoing reorganization in the agency, communication between the National Preventive Mechanism and the Special Penitentiary Service was delayed in the mentioned period. On February 22, 2019, the Minister of Justice of Georgia approved the 2019-2020 Strategy and Action Plan for the Development of Penitentiary and Crime Prevention Systems, which was welcomed by the Public Defender. On May 17, 2019, the Interagency Coordination Council, an agency implementing the measures directed against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, approved the 2019-2020 Action Plan for Combating Torture, Inhuman, Cruel or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Public Defender's Office presented its opinion on the draft action plan. In addition, the Public Defender's Office was actively involved in the Council meetings. On May 10, 2019, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture published a report on the visit paid to Georgia on September 10-21, 2018, which focused on the so-called informal governance in the Georgian penitentiary establishments and particularly dangerous, informal prisoner hierarchy in Penitentiary Establishment No. 15. It was also noted in the report that the management of Establishment No. 15 admitted that it considered itself compelled to share a part of its responsibility for order and security with informal leaders (so-called “watchers”), thus exposing weaker inmates to the risk of violence and intimidation. The Public Defender/National Preventive Mechanism has been talking about informal governance in the penitentiary establishments in its reports for years. The influence of prison criminal subculture has been manifested in various forms for decades, since the Soviet times, and the above is still actively used in the penitentiary establishments and serves to maintain "order" by the so-called “watchers”. In addition, since 2015, the Public Defender has been recommending that the Ministry of Corrections develop a strategy to tackle criminal subculture, which has not been taken into account. After publication of the report on the visit to Georgia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture on September 10-21, 2018, the Public Defender made a decision to explore the extent of informal governance and its forms in the penitentiary establishments. The aim was to identify problems in detail and to make specific recommendations, which would help the Ministry to carry out 11 Law of Georgia No. 3024-rs of July 5, 2018 on the Amendments to the Law of Georgia on the Structure, Authority and Rules of Operation of the Government of Georgia and Law of Georgia No. 3128-rs of July 5, 2018 on the Amendments to the Imprisonment Code of Georgia. 12