SUMMARY 1 Between 2014 and 2015, the Defender carried out systematic visits in 7 prisons for men, predominantly classified in the category of medium and high security prisons. 3 The Czech Republic has one of the highest prison population rates among European countries and its prisons have long been overcrowded. If this problem is not systematically addressed, e.g. by a reform of penal policy, then Czech prisons are set to exceed their capacity by approx. 2,300 places in the coming years. 4 The possibilities for rehabilitation of the convicts are impacted by the system of shared accommodation that reduces the effectiveness of the work of the specialist prison employees and promotes the so-called shadow life of the convicts. 6 2 The Defender found ill-treatment in two prisons. The reasons were the generally unsatisfactory conditions of imprisonment of convicts with physical or mental disabilities. The Defender found shortcomings in the equipment and also in insufficient provision of assistance to persons dependent on the help of others. The very statutory definition of this specific category of convicts poses a problem, as it currently stresses their inability to work, although the primary criterion defining the specific position of these convicts should be their medical condition. 5 Specialists who work with prisoners are overburdened by paperwork unrelated to the purpose of the convicts’ imprisonment. Their number is inadequate to serve the growing numbers of prisoners. The lack of specialists employed in the prison system does not permit individualised rehabilitation of convicts. The health care in prison is in need of a reform. Health care in Czech prisons faces a number of problems, especially in terms of providing for accessible and good care, which is partly related to the lack of physicians motivated to work in prisons; currently, there is a need for an analysis of the entire conception of prison health care – the current European trend, in line with the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and the World Health Organization (WHO), seeks to transfer responsibility for health care in prisons to the civilian health care system.