Correctional institutions Services and religious gatherings were not permitted to take place for weeks. However, the detainees were given the opportunity to speak to pastoral workers via video conference during this time. Where masses, devotions and common prayers were allowed thereafter, the institutions observed the restrictions that the religious communities had set for themselves. Practising religion 2.5.2.7 Contact to the outside With the beginning of the hard lockdown in mid-March 2020, personal visits by relatives were not permitted in the correctional institutions. The same applied in November after a contact ban had been re-imposed in public spaces. Visiting ban The Federal Ministry of Justice has been planning the installation of video telephony in the correctional institutions for some time in order to enable the detainees – as a complement to visits – to maintain social contact to their relatives and friends in a legal way. After completion of a test phase, this form of communication was allowed in all institutions in March 2020. The prison administration thus followed a longstanding demand of the NPM. Video telephony It was stipulated per decree that internet telephony is not a visit in the sense of Section 93 of the Penitentiary System Act (Strafvollzugsgesetz) but rather a type of telecommunication. The immediate implementation came as a surprise to the correctional institutions. First of all, they had to procure sufficient devices. In some cases, notebooks with integrated camera were and still are used. The system has since been established in all institutions and resonance from the detainees is positive. Only those in facilities for the detention of mentally ill offenders are sometimes overwhelmed and continue to use conventional telephone calls. Organisation and process On monitoring visits, the NPM observed that video telephony is not only promoted by the institutions but requested by the inmates. Persons whose relatives live far away in particular thus have the opportunity to maintain visual contact to their family. They also often get to see their relatives in familiar surroundings, which is a compensation for the sometimes poor audio quality. Only in the Floridsdorf satellite facility of Mittersteig correctional institution did the NPM have to criticise that the inmates were not adequately informed about the opportunity to use this modern form of communication. 2.5.2.8 Psychiological care and therapies The general directorate allowed external therapists again from the beginning of May in order to cover the care needs of the inmates. They were able to take up their therapies either virtually or on-site. The therapy sessions had to be held behind glass in the institutions. Only one-on-one meetings were allowed. 108