ANNUAL REPORT OF NPM 2019 _______________________________________________________________________________________ Ministry of Health. This issue is regulated by point 6, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the SOP. Paragraph 2 of point 6 of SOP explicitly states: “The authorized panel of prison administration shall decide on sending any prisoner to solitary confinement as a consequence of disciplinary violations.” While paragraph 2 of point 6 of the SOP stipulates that: “The panel for evaluating the disciplinary violation or any other non-healthrelated action shall decide, without the presence of the medical staff, on whether to send the prisoners in solitary confinement or not.” In this regard, the NPM notes that the CPT, in its report on a visit to the Republic of Kosovo in 2015, expresses concerns since the applicable legislation (LEPS, Article 107 and the Administrative Instruction on House Rules in Correctional Institutions, Article 76) stipulates that, in order for a prisoner, which is convicted with a disciplinary measure of solitary, to be subject to the concerned measure, the following shall be required “a written medical opinion which states that the convicted person is in a physical and psychological condition and capable to endure a period of time of solitary confinement.” An emphasis in this report is that CPT has noted that the medical staff ceased to require such a thing, and further states that physicians at the correctional and detention centres act in the capacity of personal physicians of detainees, and maintaining the physician-patient relationship is a key factor to maintain the health of prisoners. Such practice of written medical confirmation which certifies that the prisoner is physically and psychologically capable to undergo this disciplinary measure can undermine this physicianpatient relationship. The CPT, through this report, stated that the medical staff should never be involved in the decision-making process where the imposition of any measure of solitary is taking place, unless in cases when this measure is imposed due to medical reasons. Through the concerned report, the CPT has recommended the competent authorities in the Republic of Kosovo to amend the applicable legislation in line with this recommendation. 56 The NPM, through the reports with recommendations, recommended that the applicable legislation in the spirit of the CPT's recommendations and other relevant international acts on prisoners' rights must be amended. Living space per prisoner according to applicable LEPS The NPMs notes that Article 3 of the Law 05/L-129 on Amending and Supplementing Law no. 04 / L-149 on the Execution of Penal Sanctions, regarding living space per prisoners, stipulates the following: “The premises in which a convicted person lives and works must be of sufficient space for each convicted person to have at a minimum eight (8) cubic meters of space, when is possible and nine (9) cubic meters for the convicted in joint cells and four (4) cubic meters for single cells, and an adequate amount of natural and artificial lighting for work and reading, heating and ventilation”. The NPM notes that this provision and the repealed LEPS provision as well, do not determine whether this space is calculated without including the toilets annexes. In this regard, the NPM notes that the CPT's 56 CPT, Report with recommendations on the visit to the Republic of Kosovo in 2015, published in 2016, paragraph 76. See at: https://rm.coe.int/16806a1efc/. See also CPT's reports on the visits to Kosovo in 2007 at: https://rm.coe.int/16806972c2 and the visit in 2010 at: https://rm.coe.int/16806972c7 26