psychologist. The Special Preventive Group believes that along with increasing the number of social workers and psychologists, it is important to balance the ratio between them and prisoners. In addition to the problem of the number of social workers and psychologists, it should be noted that none of the social workers employed in Establishment No. 3 and only few social workers employed in Establishments Nos. 2, 8, 14 and 15 had the qualifications required by law.117 The Special Preventive Group considers that given the qualifications and number of social workers, as well as the number of psychologists in the facilities, it is not surprising that individual sentence planning had been suspended in Establishments Nos. 2, 8, 14 and 15 from January 1 to August 2019. According to the amendments made to the Imprisonment Code,118 from January 1, 2020, the vocational training and retraining of convicts will be carried out by the Convicts' Vocational Training and Retraining Centre, which should be praised. The National Preventive Mechanism/Public Defender of Georgia hopes that with the help of the Centre, convicts will be offered a wide range of opportunities to engage in a variety of trainings/vocational programmes. Participation of prisoners in rehabilitation activities, inter alia,119 is hampered by factors such as criminal subculture and lack of motivation.120 It is unfortunate that prisoners in closed and high-risk facilities are still not allowed to walk for more than an hour, like previous years. In addition, it is problematic for prisoners of Establishments Nos. 2 and 8 to take a walk according to the day schedule.121 There are problems with the arrangement of yards and sports equipment as well.122 It is important to increase the number of social workers and psychologists in the penitentiary facilities in 2020, in order to use their resources for the rehabilitation activities as much as possible. It is important to actively attract the external sector in order to carry out diverse and systematic rehabilitation activities and to ensure that rehabilitation programmes cover more prisoners in each 117 According to the reply (No. 371652/01) sent by the Special Penitentiary Service on December 13, 2019, a total of 13 employees participated in the social work certification in 2019 and it is planned to involve 13 social workers in the certification process in 2020. 118 On December 31, 2019, the statute of the Centre for Vocational Training and Retraining of Convicts, a legal entity of public law, was approved by Order No. 492 of the Minister of Justice of Georgia. The aim of the Centre is to promote re-socialization/rehabilitation of convicts through their education, vocational training/retraining and employment. 119 For detailed information, see the 2018 Report of the National Preventive Mechanism, available at: http://www.ombudsman.ge/res/docs/2020011615511256803.pdf p. 43-44 [last accessed: 22.01.2020]. 120 See the 2018 Report of the National Preventive Mechanism, available at: <http://www.ombudsman.ge/res/docs/2020011615511256803.pdf> p. 44 [last accessed: 22.01.2020]. 121 Prisoners often refuse to go for a walk because they are offered the above at 7-8:00 in the morning, contrary to the day schedule. 122 Detailed information is available in the report on the visits paid to Establishments Nos. 2, 8, 14 and 15. The report is available at: http://www.ombudsman.ge/res/docs/2019121618092132463.pdf p. 33-34 [last accessed: 22.01.2020]. 51