THE PENITENTIARY HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AND TORTURE PREVENTION MECHANISMS Protection issued the Order No. 01-6/N dated 15 February 2013 approving a list of serious and incurable diseases mandating release of a diseased prisoner from serving the sentence. This change boosted the effectiveness of the Joint Steering Commission; in particular, during 2013, 95 prisoners were released from the obligation to serve their sentence of whom 60 inmates were released on account of health condition and 35 due to age. As regards the postponement of judgment enforcement, this procedure was applied in relation to 10 prisoners in 2013. On 14 June 2013, the Code of Criminal Procedure was amended making it possible to postpone enforcement of convicting judgments based on alternative forensic medical reports.89 With participation by civil society organizations, a new version of Article 283 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was drafted, which is fully compatible with the attitude of the European Court of Human Rights towards the matter of postponement of sentence execution. Under the new Article 283, enforcement of a convicting judgment against the convicted individual may be delayed by the court that had passed the convicting judgment, on the basis of a forensic medical report, if the individual is unfit for imprisonment on account of his/her medical condition, until the time he/she fully recovers from the illness or his/her condition improves substantially. The draft law,90 although submitted to the Georgian Parliament, was not yet adopted by the end of the reporting period. The mentioned legal mechanism requires betterment and should be used more effectively in the future so that prisoners who are unfit for long-term imprisonment are not subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. Deceased prisoners Pursuant to the data provided by the Ministry of Corrections, 25 prisoners died in 2013. Table 8 № 1. Name and Institubirthdate of tion the deceased S.G. N16 29/09/1965 2. A.T. 30/06/1969 N18 Place of death Death reason HIV/AIDS phase C3, pneumocystic pneumonia, HIV-associated wasting syndrome, terminal condition, chronic hepatitis C, tuberculosis on both lungs, smear negative, residual events following an ischemic stroke such as hemiparesis, acute respiratory insufficiency. Pneumonia on both lungs, acute respiratory inufficiency, bronchial asthma, lung tuberculosis in the past, subcutaneous hematoma in the area of arterial-venous fistula, virus hepatitis C, chronic liver insufficiency, hepatosplenomegaly, sepsis. Medical Institution for Accused and Convicted Persons Acute respiratory and cardiovascular insufficiency Academician O. Gudushauri National Medical Center Acute respiratory and cardiovascular insufficiency developed as a result of sepsis. 89 Under Article 283(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a trial court may postpone enforcement of a convicting judgment based on a forensic medical report if it is the first time the convicted person has been sentenced to imprisonment. The court may decide the postponement issue either within the convicting judgment or separately, in a court decision handed down after the convicting judgment is passed. The enforcement of a convicting judgment may be postponed for at least one of the following reasons: a) if the convicted person has a serious illness that obstructs his serving of the sentence, the enforcement may be postponed until the time he/she fully recovers from the illness or his/her condition improves substantially; or b) if the convicted person is pregnant by the time the convicting judgment is due to be enforced, the enforcement will be postponed until 1 year passes after delivery. 90 See the full text of the draft law and the appended explanatory note at 2013 Medical condition https://matsne.gov.ge/index.php?option=com_ldmssearch&view=docView&id=2083564&lang=ge [last accessed 14.03.2014]. NPM Report 45