In the reporting period, disciplinary punishment was used twice as many times as in the year of 2013. The Public Defender’s recommendation to develop guidelines on the use of disciplinary punishment was not fulfilled. Prisoners often get locked up in solitary confinement cells as a measure of disciplinary punishment and the disciplinary sanctions are not used proportionally in practice. The penitentiary healthcare reform deserves positive assessment. We appreciate the fact that the prison healthcare system has been better funded, which really meant increased salaries for the medical staff and accessible primary healthcare services in all of the penitentiary institutions. We also welcome the opening of the Central Penitentiary Hospital and the refurbishment of the Center for the Treatment of Tuberculosis and Rehabilitation. Despite these positive changes, a series of problems remain in the penitentiary system. One of the issues is the timeliness and adequacy of medical services and insufficient periodicity of visits paid by physicians to penitentiary institutions. Measures must be taken to ensure that prisoners have unhindered access to the prescribed medications. It is unfortunate that no breakthrough steps have been made in the reporting period to fully integrate the penitentiary healthcare into the civilian healthcare system; hence, the principle of equivalent services is not fully respected. The penitentiary healthcare system is still facing the challenges related to suicide prevention, excessive reliance on medications and psychotropic drugs, and lack of timely and adequate psychotropic assistance for prisoners with mental disorders. Unfortunately, the number of deaths was higher in the reporting period than in 2013. Twenty-seven (27) prisoners died in 2014. The number of suicides increased as well. Seven (7) facts of suicide were registered. Analysis of prisoner deaths reasonably leads to doubting whether the medical services provided in penitentiary institutions are adequate. The Public Defender deems it is necessary to control the quality of medical services and to strengthen efforts towards prevention of suicides. The Public Defender’s view is that prisoners should have stronger contact with the outside world. Despite the Public Defender’s recommendation to allow short-term visits without the separating glass bar, such visits continue to be administered with the glass bars separating the sides. It is important to equip all of the penitentiary institutions with infrastructure for long-term visits. A particular problem in this regard exists in women’s institutions and closed institutions for deprivation of liberty. Special attention is to be paid to the special needs of women and juvenile prisoners. The situation existing in the Georgian penitentiary system is discussed in detail in the relevant chapters below. 2.2.  PREVENTING TORTURE AND INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT AND PUNISHMENT IN PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS Pursuant to Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or 14 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM OF GEORGIA