abuses other prisoners under the instruction of the administration. As for the semi-open facilities, the fact that convicts do not characterize negatively the staff and administration should be assessed positively. It is welcome that the staff of High-Risk Penitentiary Establishment No. 3 also avoid conflicts with prisoners as much as possible. Psychological violence According to the Public Defender, psychological violence against prisoners by staff remains a challenge. Prisoners in closed facilities spoke of unethical, abusive and unequal treatment by staff. For example, according to them, they use rude and humiliating language towards prisoners employed in the penitentiary establishment, such as "shut up," "drag him into the cell" and „drive them into cells." Members of the Special Preventive Group, while being in the corridor of one of the buildings of Establishment No. 2, heard loud swearing by staff. In addition, one of the employees of the administration of Establishment No. 15, while talking to the Special Preventive Group, used degrading terms when referring to a certain category of prisoners49. According to several prisoners interviewed at Establishment No. 8, they are often engaged in a conflict with staff when they request medical care. In particular, several prisoners reported that the staff of the facility spoke rudely to them, challenged them and threatened to deteriorate their conditions or isolate them. Prisoners also say that they are often reprimanded for bothering the medical staff with medical complaints. The cases described above were witnessed by the monitoring team as well. Isolation of prisoners for security reasons The regulations of Penitentiary Establishments Nos. 2, 3, 6 and 8 provide for the placement of a prisoner in the de-escalation room as one of the security measures.50 For years, the Public Defender has pointed to the vicious practice of placing prisoners in the de-escalation room and often assessed the practice of the use of de-escalation rooms as inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners. With regard to the above, problematic trends were again identified in the reporting period, like previous years. In particular, the monitoring revealed cases of placement of prisoners in the deescalation room for a long time and sometimes without intervals; prisoners with mental health problems are placed in the de-escalation rooms instead of being provided with psycho-social services; the administration uses de-escalation rooms to psychologically influence and punish prisoners. In 49 Prisoners employed in the penitentiary establishment, responsible for cleaning. Pursuant to Article 17 of the Statutes of Establishments Nos. 2 and 8, Article 26 of the Statute of Establishment No. 3 and Article 27 of the Statute of Establishment No. 6, if the untried/convicted person poses or may pose a threat to his/her or others’ life and/or health, taking into account the relevant infrastructure, upon the recommendation of the medical staff and/or the order of the director of the facility issued on the basis of a report of an authorized employee of the facility, he/she may be placed in a properly equipped de-escalation room under 24-hour visual supervision by security staff and with continuous access to medical staff. 50 33