5.1.2 Celle prison The Joint Commission visited Celle prison on 2 February 2012. The main facility of Celle prison that was inspected by the Joint Commission is responsible for male adults serving prison sentences over 14 years, life imprisonment and preventive detention. The Joint Commission inspected the penal detention wing with its sanitary area, the security area with a visiting room, the department for preventive detention, the specially-secured cell containing no dangerous objects, common rooms and free-time yards. The Commission spoke with the prison governor and the deputy prison governor, as well as with other staff members of various departments. The Commission also spoke with several inmates, including two in preventive detention, and with all inmates who were in solitary confinement, as well as with the members of the prisoners’ co-responsibility body. The facility had a capacity of 207 places and was occupied with 183 inmates at the time of the inspection visit, including 22 in preventive detention. Four inmates were in solitary confinement on the day of the visit. Positive findings Celle prison only uses fixation in very rare cases. No fixation took place in 2010 and 2011. The documentation handed to the Joint Commission, furthermore, permits one to recognise that the specially-secured cells containing no dangerous objects were used only rarely (a total of 15 days in 2010 and 2011). Cellular confinement was only rarely used (according to the documents, four times in the past three years). What was noticeable was the cleanliness and comfort of Celle prison. The good atmosphere between the inmates and the staff should also be stressed, which was praised by the inmates. The food was also positively assessed by the inmates. Recommendations by the Joint Commission and the reaction of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice The Joint Commission inspected the security wing and talked with the four inmates accommodated there in solitary confinement. The fact that an inmate had been held and continues to be accommodated in solitary confinement for 15 years, and another for 16 years, appears to be extraordinarily serious, and caused great concern among the members of the Commission: The inmate who was found in solitary confinement has been uninterruptedly separated in accordance with section 89 of the Prison Act since 1996 as a result of massive sexual violence against a female officer. The incident took place when the inmate was serving time in Celle Salinenmoor prison, which was still an in38