Correctional institutions X Isolation shall not be imposed as a purely universal preventive measure because this would violate the presumption of innocence. 2.5.9 Infrastructural weaknesses Detention of mentally ill offenders The number of offenders on whom the courts have imposed preventive measures that deprive liberty continues to rise. The special treatment and care needs of this group of persons as well as the necessity to separate them from prison inmates poses increasing challenges for the administration of the judiciary. Often those hospitalised have to wait for a considerable amount of time after their verdict becomes legally binding until a place is free in the institution prescribed for them. This is exacerbated by the deficient material and personnel situation in the target institutions. Whereas in recent years, the NPM Report predominantly contained observations from the correctional institutions, critical descriptions of conditions in the public hospitals in which mentally ill offenders are housed (temporary or permanently) were more frequent in the period under review. There is a need for investment here too. 2.5.9.1 Protective restraints due to lack of space - Graz II Regional Hospital Separate room for inmates in need of acute psychiatric care On their monitoring visit to the First Forensic Department of Graz II Regional Hospital in September 2019, the commission specifically addressed the living conditions of those patients who were in the separate room for inmates in need of acute psychiatric care on that day. The separate room for inmates in need of acute psychiatric care is a room that is located inside the forensic ward to house inmates who, due to their mental condition, have to be taken temporarily from Graz-Jakomini, Graz-Karlau or Leoben correctional institution to a hospital. This sickroom is monitored through an observation window connected to an office that is available to the prison officers. Preventive handcuffing The experts observed that there were three persons in the sickroom that is designed for two beds and there were restraints in place. It is extremely stressful for patients to experience a person beside them being restrained. The commission also observed that, due to the lack of space, persons are placed under “protective restraints” to prevent assaults on other patients. Degrading treatment 127 In view of the principle of proportionality, against which every intervention shall be measured, this practice is objectionable. In addition, restraints that