Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2015
physicians to issue referral slips and prescriptions, but this has not been achieved by the time
this Report was made. Much of the difficulties that make providing of healthcare more difficult
and represent a constant source of dissatisfaction among the prisoners, but also among
healthcare providers would have been avoided if prisoners’ healthcare were to be
organizationally put under the competence of the Ministry of Health. This is discussed in more
detail in the chapter on evaluation on the state of the rights of persons deprived of their liberty
who are in the prison system.
Some of the prisoners complain about the quality of food, especially vegetarian, and some
about the size of the meals in certain penal institutions, which they believe to be smaller than
regulations require.
Several prisoners have also complained about lack of seat belts in special vehicles intended for
transport of prisoners. Specifically, in the back of the special vehicle one can sit only on the side
bench, without hand grips, often with one’s hands and sometimes even legs bound, so in the
event of sudden braking of the vehicle or changing the direction of driving most prisoners
transported that way end up on the vehicle floor by the end of the ride, and sometimes get
injured. The Road Traffic Safety Act does not indicate that it is allowed to be without a seat belt
in this type of vehicle, and in the Government Regulation on Uniforms of State Officials in State
Prison Security Sections, Prisons and Education Centres and in Official State Vehicles, there is
no provision pertaining to equipment of the space designated for transport of prisoners, other
than the fact that a special protective partition is required to separate the space for prisoners
from the space for judicial police officers. Consequently, it is necessary to find an adequate
solution with regard to installation of seat belts in all vehicles intended for transport of
prisoners, in order to reduce the possibility of the prisoners sustaining injuries.
Accommodation conditions
In 2015, there has been a significant decrease in the number of complaints about
accommodation conditions field by persons deprived of their liberty who are in penal
institutions. This can be explained by reduced overcrowding in the entire prison system.
According to the records of the COPSD, occupancy rate in the prison system as at 31 December
2015 was 84.77%. However, in some prisons there is still the practice of accommodating more
prisoners than the existing capacities allow: 125.86% in Rijeka County Prison, 111.29% in Zadar
County Prison, 110.91% in Osijek County Prison, 109.00% in Varaždin County Prison, 106.25%
in Požega County Prison and 102.20% in Bjelovar County Prison.
One of the main reasons for filing complaints is the violation of accommodation standards
pertaining to space requirements, according to which there has to be 4m2 and 10m3 of space
provided for each prisoner in the dormitory. This is often the cause for prisoner’s complaints
to the head of the prison or the executing judge. Following the executing judge’s decision on
violation of rights, prisoners would be relocated to adequate dormitories. Apart from standards
pertaining to space requirements, persons deprived of their liberty also complained about lack
of cleaning agents.
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