Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2015 Prisoners who do not have supplementary health insurance have to pay a participation fee when visiting a physician or dentist who is not employed by the penal institution, when receiving hospital treatment (in a hospital other than the Prison Hospital) and also when receiving certain prescription medications. Given that their ability to work is limited during their serving of the prison sentence, most of them do not have enough money for that. On the other hand, CHIF does not grant supplementary insurance at the expense of the state budget for prisoners whose families do not fulfil the required conditions, because it requires that despite having their temporary or permanent residence registered at the Despite the Decision of address of the penal institution, the prisoners also have to enclose the Constitutional Court with their applications other documents proving their marital U-III/64744/2009 of status or family relationships, as well as the income earned by 2010, efficient members of their households. Where all this is not submitted, CHIF supervision over the does not accept the application as legally valid, despite the fact that quality of healthcare in the Ordinance on Procedure, Conditions and Method of the entire prison system Determining the Right to Payment of Supplementary Health has not yet been Insurance Premium from the State Budget prescribes that income established. of all persons living in the shared household is taken into consideration for that purpose. However, if a person is serving a prison sentence and has a registered temporary or permanent address at the address of the penal institution, it is clear that he or she does not reside in the shared household with members of their family. Considering the fact that an average of 87% prisoners serve prisons sentences longer than one year, these changes in their status are certainly not temporary. If a prisoner lacks enough income, which can be proven by providing a statement of the account kept by the penal institution, and if he/she has nobody to provide for him/her, the prisoner should be deemed to fulfil the requirements for being granted the right to payment of supplementary health insurance policy at the expense of the state budget. Taking into consideration the financial situation of most of the prisoners and the specificities of this population and given that the issue of healthcare in penal institutions also constitutes a public health issue, it is necessary to provide a systematic solution for the problem of supplementary health insurance for all prisoners so that during their serving of the prison sentence they have both the compulsory and supplementary health insurance provided at the expense of the state budget. The responsibility for providing adequate healthcare for prisoners should be taken over by the Ministry of Health, just as it is responsible for the general population outside the prison system. This would be the most efficient method of ensuring implementation of Article 40 of the Recommendation on European Prison Rules (2006) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, i.e. it would be an optimal way of ensuring treatment, measures and activities of healthcare in the same quality and scope as is prescribed in public health under the compulsory health insurance, which is something we 23 The responsibility for providing adequate healthcare for prisoners should be taken over by the Ministry of Health, just as it is responsible for the general population outside the prison system.