advance. Only in exceptional circumstances, where there are clear pre-determined grounds, should the prison director be authorized to restrict this right for a definite period and based on a reasoned decision. According to the information received from the penitentiary institutions, solitary confinement is the most frequently used disciplinary sanction. According to statistical data from the Institution no. 14, out of 124 cases of use of disciplinary punishment, solitary confinement was imposed in 120 cases. This practice contradicts Article 88(1) of the Code of Imprisonment, which stipulates that solitary confinement as a measure of disciplinary punishment should be used only in special cases. The trend of using solitary confinement by penitentiary institutions is shown in the below table: Institution no. Solitary confinement Other punishments Total 2 127 (60,5 %) 83 (39,5%) 210 3 55 (67,1 %) 27 (32,9 %) 82 5 3 (5,4 %) 52 (94,6 %) 55 6 37 (60,6 %) 24 (39,4 %) 61 7 0 145 (100 %) 145 8 565 (34,8 %) 1058 (65,2 %) 1623 9 0 3 (100 %) 3 11 0 5 (100 %) 5 12 5 (41,6 %) 7 (58,4 %) 12 14 120 (96,8 %) 4 (3,2 %) 124 15 119 (47,6 %) 131 (52,4 %) 250 17 74 (23,6 %) 239 (76,4 %) 313 18 0 48 (100 %) 48 19 27 (65,8) 14 (34,2 %) 41 Total 1132 (38,1 %) 1840 (61,9 %) 2972 Solitary confinement cells were dysfunctional during the year at institutions no. 7 and no. 9 and hence, none of the prisoners was imposed solitary confinement as a disciplinary sanction. There are no solitary confinement cells at the institutions no. 11 and no. 18, due to the profile of these institutions. The data shown in the table demonstrate that solitary confinement occupies the highest share in disciplinary sanctions imposed in the institutions nos. 14, 3, 19, 6 and 2. Further, the share of solitary confinement in sanctions imposed in these institutions exceeds 60%, while it equals 96.8% in case of the institution no. 14. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM OF GEORGIA 75