Institution N15 7863 Institution N17 12067 Institution N18 35 Institution N19 533 2.7.2.  LONG-TERM VISITS According to Article 8, Part I of the European Convention on Human Rights everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life. Article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. The right of prisoners to long-term visitations is a part to the right of protection of family. Importantly, maintaining close relations with their families helps prisoners in smoother reintegration with their families and society after the release. According to Article 171, Part I of the Imprisonment Code, a long-term visit is a cohabitation of convicts with persons defined by Part II187 of the same article in a room located on the premises of an institution. According to Article 62, Clause 2, Paragraph E a convict serving in a semi-closed institution has the right to three long-term visits per, while two more long-term visits may be granted as an incentive. An amendment to Article 65 of the Imprisonment Code of Georgia enacted on April 16, 2014 is considered undoubtedly positive development. More specifically, according to newly added paragraph D a convict placed in a closed institution has the right to two long-term visits per year and to additional long-term visit per year as an incentive. There is no adequate infrastructure for long-term visits in Institution 8 and only life sentence prisoners exercise their right to long term visits. As a rule, life sentence convicts are transported to Institution 6 once a month for long-term visits upon prior arrangements with family members. Similar to Institution 8 there is no infrastructure in Institution 7 to accommodate to long-term visits. It is worth noting that, the life sentence prisoners serving in this institution are not able to exercise their right to long-term visitation. THE CASE OF V.A. A.A mother of a convict V.A. serving a life sentence in the Institution N7 of the Penitentiary Department has repeatedly applied to the Public Defender’s Office in regards to the infringement of her son’s right to long-term visits. 187 ‘A convict may be granted the right to long-term visits by son/daughter, adopted son/daughter, grandchild, spouse, a partner with who s/he had a child, parents (adoptive parents), grandmother, grandfather, sister and brother’. 146 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM OF GEORGIA