D. Description of the essential results of the visits by the Commission of the Länder The Commission of the Länder carried out a total of 18 inspection visits in nine different Federal Länder in the period under review. The Commission of the Länder contacted all the responsible Ministries of the Federal Länder in October and November 2010 in preparation for the visits and asked to receive information (including on the Land-specific legal basis, the number and contact data of places where people are deprived of their liberty, etc.). The Commission of the Länder has unfortunately not received an answer from several of the various Ministries up until the present day, even after several months. The Commission of the Länder now expects this to be dealt with promptly. No description of the comprehensive basis in Land law will be provided below. It is pointed out once more that both the visit reports and the statements of the supervisory authorities are not given in full, but as a summary of excerpts. I. Prisons There are 186 prisons with independent organisations in Germany.19 The Commission of the Länder inspected seven prisons within the period under review. It addressed its recommendations to the Ministry of Justice of the respective Federal Land. 1. Rosdorf prison in October 2010 The Commission of the Länder carried out an inspection visit in Rosdorf prison on 25 October 2010. It inspected amongst other things the admissions area, a penal detention wing, the detention area, the security wing, a specially-secured cell and the visiting area. During the visit, it carried out talks with the prison governor and with the staff members of various wings. There were also talks held with inmates and with the inmates’ council. Rosdorf prison has a capacity to hold 318 inmates. It was occupied by 241 inmates at the time of the visit. Recommendations of the Commission of the Länder The Commission complains that an inmate described by the governor as particularly mentally abnormal has been in solitary confinement without psychiatric care and subject to video monitoring for months. It is urgently recommended that this inmate be transferred to a psychiatric wing. Reaction of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice The inmate in question is said to have undergone psychiatric examination at the beginning of 2010. Categorised as a highlydangerous inmate, it was regarded as being necessary for him to be institutionalised in a psychiatric clinic, but this could not be achieved at the time for security reasons. A transfer had been earmarked for February 2011. It was not possible to organise an ear- 19 cf. Federal Statistical Office on the number of prisons, capacity and occupancy on 31 March 2011 at http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Rechtspflege/Justizvollz ug/Tabellen/Content75/Belegungskapazitaet,templateId=renderPrint.psml [most recently retrieved on 22 December 2011] 39