Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2015 Although the prisons system found the use of means of coercion to be legal in the observed cases, the allegations of some prisoners indicating potentially illegal treatment and overstepping of authority are worrying. For example, a prisoner in Gospić County Prison was subjected to the act of bringing in – elbow lock, but he reported that judicial police officers had hit him with their hands and feet. He sustained a back injury that could have been caused by falling down onto a radiator, as the judicial police officer described the incident. But the prisoner also sustained an injury to his left ear, specifically an auricular hematoma and perforated eardrum with consequential diminishing of the sense of hearing, which is typically caused by a direct hit with a hard blunt object in the area of the ear, such as a hit with an open hand. Although the report on use of means of coercion Evaluation of legal justification of was also submitted to the competent executing judge in the use of means of coercion this specific case, no additional statements were should not be based solely on requested to verify the prisoner’s allegations of statements given by judicial police potentially illegal and even inhuman or degrading officers, but rather it is necessary treatment. to also objectively examine in There was one prisoner who was brought to the Prison detail the statements of prisoners, hospital from Lepoglava State Prison immediately after especially those who were injured the use of means of coercion, for swallowing foreign in the process of use of such objects. At the Prison hospital he complained that the means of coercion. judicial police officers had beaten him up. Although he was admitted with visible hematomas on his face, his allegations were not investigated and he was instructed to make a complaint when he returns to the penal institution in which he is kept. In this context, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (hereinafter: CAT) gave a recommendation in its concluding observations in 2014 to the Republic of Croatia regarding the necessity of investigating all allegations of possible torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, including allegations of verbal abuse and use of excessive force. In that sense, the evaluation of legal justification of the use of means of coercion should not be based solely on statements given by judicial police officers, which is generally the case, but rather it is necessary to also objectively examine in detail the statements of prisoners, especially those who were injured in the process of use of such means of coercion. Disciplinary proceedings During interviews with prisoners and officials of penal institutions and based on examination of records on disciplinary proceedings, certain shortcomings have been found that pertain to disciplinary proceedings. For example, in none of the observed cases did the executing judge make a decision on appeal against the decision on pronounced disciplinary measure within the time limit of 48 hours, which is why either the EPSA or the current practice have to be changed. Certain inconsistent treatment has also been found in implementation of disciplinary measures so for example in some penal institutions the measures are implemented even before they become final, while in other cases one waits until the relevant decision becomes final. 15