PP ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NPM N PM 4. ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT SITUATION Due to the fact that since 2005 the Ombudsman, on the basis of the powers laid down in the Ombudsman’s Act, has regularly visited establishments where persons deprived of their liberty are placed (in the period from January 2012 to July 2012), 5 prisons, 2 penitentiaries, a remand home, detention facilities in 5 police administrations and a psychiatric hospital), Office of the Ombudsman has been well informed about the level of observance of human rights of persons deprived of their liberty. On the basis of our activities upon received complaints, undertaken within the framework of powers under the Ombudsman’s Act and the operations of the National Preventive Mechanism, several conclusion were drawn which we seek to emphasise here. 1. The conditions of accommodation are largely not in conformity with international standards Overcrowding, one of the basic characteristics of the prison system, generates numerous restrictions or violations of human rights of persons deprived of their liberty, such as the right to accommodation which corresponds to human dignity and health standards, the right to medical protection, labour, contact with the outside world, and other rights. However, it must be emphasised that in the past two years, a trend of reduced overcrowding has been recorded as a result of the implementation of the new criminal legislation and the increased capacity of the prison system by an additional 400 places. According to the data given in the Report on the situation and the work of penitentiaries, prisons and other remand homes for 2012, on 31 December 2010, overcrowding amounted to 154%, on 31 December 2011 it amounted to 134% and on 31 December 2012 it was 125%. However, despite these obviously positive shifts, it must be remembered that according to the standards of the European Committee on Crime Problems (CD-PC), when the so-called “concentration calculation” of the total number of inmates in prisons is made, a concentration above 120 is considered as “critical” (Decision of the Constitutional Court UIII/4182/2008, point 17). Therefore, the Recommendation of the Council of Europe R (99) 22 must continue to be acted upon. This Recommendation states, among other things, that countries in whose prison systems overcrowding cannot be avoided have a general and permanent duty to compensate for such situations by raising awareness and attaching importance to the size of accommodation units, the hygienic and sanitary conditions, quality of food, protection of health and the possibilities for exercise and recreation. We must also remind ourselves of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 2012 in the case of Longin v. Croatia which found a violation of Article 3 (Prohibition of Torture) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and established degrading treatment, based on the conditions in the Zagreb 29