Positive findings The accommodation of various groups of inmates requires a considerable degree of organisational differentiation. This differentiation according to security concerns was implemented in a convincing manner in the view of the Commission. It is gratifying to note that a prison plan is drawn up for all inmates after 90 days. In this context, the Commission would like to mention the informative talk with the specialist services. It particularly stresses that a concept to establish a prisoners’ co-responsibility body under the special circumstances of a prison for executing relatively short prison sentences was already developed during the discussion. The Joint Commission also favours the allocation of unchanging staff to the various accommodation areas, which promotes the development of an atmosphere between inmates and officers based on mutual understanding. Recommendations of the Joint Commission In the shared cells which the Joint Commission inspected, the toilet area is not constructionally separated from the accommodation area, but only by a shower curtain. There is therefore no protection against either noise or smell. The floorspace of the shared cells is furthermore only 10.77 m². The ordering of special security measures is separately documented, but the documents do not reveal when these measures were implemented in the “antirampage cells”. The file only mentions “segregation” or “camera surveillance” in general terms. In order to be able to examine the use of the specially-secured cell better, occupancy and the reason why it was ordered should be recorded separately. According to the prison governor, it was previously not possible to establish a prisoners’ co-responsibility body because of a lack of interest on the part of the inmates. It is however an important element of the detention arrangements as a body of collective co-responsibility in the execution process with regard to the goal of imprisonment and the approximation principle. A good atmosphere between staff and inmates is promoted amongst other things by the possibility of also talking to the prison governor. The prerequisites for this are favourable, particularly in a small to medium-sized prison such as Goldlauter. In accordance with section 108 subsection (1) sentence 2 of the Prison Act, the prison governor must hold regular consulting hours. The common showers are not fitted with partitions. The installation of partitions between the showers is desirable to protect the inmates’ privacy. Partitions which leave the floor between the showers free do not necessarily make the shower room more difficult to monitor. 62