NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS CONCERNING DEFENDANTS AND PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY WITH INTELLECTUAL AND/OR PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITIES IN LAW AND IN PRACTICE adaptation program, an individual sentence execution plan is drawn up for each convict, which includes activities and impact programs for resocialisation of the convict. 222 The specialised programs aim at: motivating and promoting lawful behavior; increasing social competence and building behavioral skills and overcoming addictions. The participation of convicted persons in them is voluntary. 223 One month before the release of the prisoner, the administration notifies the municipal council at his permanent address and the relevant monitoring commission. In this notification the work experience/qualification of the person subject to release is described and the necessary assistance for his work and household arrangements are indicated. 224 If the prisoner, who is about to be released, suffers from alcohol or drug addiction, from an IPD or from a chronic illness, the notification letter notes the results achieved during the serving of the sentence and recommendations for their treatment in the period after the release. 225 In practice, despite of the abovementioned legally provided mechanisms for identification and monitoring of prisoners with IPD the “Execution of Punishments” Directorate at the Ministry of Justice does not mention concrete figures of the share of this group of prisoners among the general prison population neither in its annual reports (that are not publicly available), nor in the specific request for access to public information sent under the present research. 226 According to its 2020 Annual report, in the Psychiatric Ward of the Specialised Hospital for Active Treatment of Prisoners in Lovech, in 2020 the total of 159 prisoners have been treated with an average hospital stay of 37 days, while in 2019 they were 199 prisoners. Of these 159 prionsers, 29 were suffering from drug addiction, 2 from alcohol addiction and 119 were with other psychosocial disabilities. 227 The report also notes that there is an extreme shortage of medical personnel in the penitentiary system. 228 According to the “Execution of Punishments” Directorate’s reply to the author of this research at the end of 2021 there were 37 patients with various psychosocial disabilities in the Psychiatric ward of the Specialised Hospital for Active Treatment of Prisoners in Lovech while as of April 2022 – 10 prisoners underwent treatment there. 229 The capacity of this hospital serving the whole penitentiary system is 55 places for men and 14 for women. Bulgaria, Execution of Punishments and Restraint Measures Act (1.06.2009), Art. 156. The individual sentence execution plan is drawn up based on: the type and nature of the crime committed; the imposed punishment; the assessment of convicted persons and the factors that form the risk of recidivism and harm; the initial place of serving the imposed sentence of imprisonment. The individual sentence execution plan aims at: inclusion of convicts in programs and activities for personal change and removal of the factors that form the risk of recidivism and harm; transfer to serve the imposed sentence in a lower level of security prison and conditional early release. An annual report on the outcomes of the individual sentence execution plan is prepared for each convict. 223 Bulgaria, Execution of Punishments and Restraint Measures Act (1.06.2009), Art. 157. The specialised programs for individual and group work are implemented by the inspectors of social activity and educational work together with the employees from the other areas of activity, volunteers and external experts with appropriate training. 224 Bulgaria, Execution of Punishments and Restraint Measures Act (1.06.2009), Art. 183, para. 1-2. 225 Bulgaria, Execution of Punishments and Restraint Measures Act (1.06.2009), Art. 183. 226 Bulgaria, Reply L-1689/2, dated 21 April 2022, signed by Ivaylo Yordanov, head of the “Execution of Punishments” Directorate. 227 Bulgaria, “Execution of Punishments” Directorate at the Ministry of Justice, 2020 Annual Report, p.58, available in Bulgarian at: https://prisonreform.bg/otchet-gdin-2020/. 228 Bulgaria, “Execution of Punishments” Directorate at the Ministry of Justice, 2020 Annual Report, p.58. There are only 20 nurses employed in it, general practitioners (GP) are employed on civil contracts and 14 GPs are ex officio appointments of the National Health Insurance Service. 229 Bulgaria, Reply L-1689/2, dated 21 April 2022, signed by Ivaylo Yordanov, head of the “Execution of Punishments” Directorate. 222 56 SLAVKA KUKOVA