according to the nature of their offences and the strengthening of their individualized treatment. This recommendation follows the visits that I made to all prison facilities in the Autonomous Region of the Azores in November 13th and 14th, 2014, and in May 28th, 2015, and takes into account the knowledge accumulated by the Portuguese Ombudsman, as shown in the reports on prisons and on other visits. The situation in the EPPDL is well documented. The efforts that the director and guards have done over the years to provide for its proper operation are well known. Nonetheless, the overcrowding (180%, in 2014) and the types of accommodation (dormitories) pose enormous challenges to a democratic state based on the rule of law, namely in what regards the execution of the imprisonment penalty, the discharge of the prison system duties, in order to provide for prisoners reinsertion in society, the protection of juridical goods and the defence of society. During my visit I could attest prisoners serving a free days imprisonment sentence are lodged in cells located in the former women’s wing. Those prisoners under an open prison regime within a secure perimeter are lodged in a former carpentry; there also live those who have been indicted or already sentenced because of child abuse charges. Young adults are also placed there. This prison facility structure and overcrowding do not allow for the separation of first offenders and habitual delinquents nor of preventive from sentenced prisoners. The economic and financial crisis and the opening of the new prison in Angra do Heroísmo, which has been designed as a central prison, and the prison facility in Horta, Faial Island add to the complexity of the situation. Reconciling careful and timely resource allocation with the objectives and requirements of the time served in imprisonment penalty or depriving liberty penalties must take into account the archipelagic reality of the Azores, demanding not only that prisoners are allocated in accordance with the available prison facilities, taking into account their legal and criminal status and their family support, but also bringing together local, regional and national administration so that a proper social reinsertion takes place. Though human and material resources are scarce, I believe that to continuously verify the existing conditions in the EPPDL the full knowledge of the status of prisoners coming from the Azores is necessary. That is why the above mentioned recommendations have been made. 84 |