CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM In his reply to the Chancellor’s recommendations, the Director General of the PBGB noted that the necessity to properly fill out documents in respect of detained persons (including filling out documents concerning the detention of a person) is stressed to the officers during study days. The Director General also explained that the assistance of detention centres of the prefectures can be used in organising the catering of individuals in police buildings designated for shortterm detention. The Director General also agreed with the Chancellor’s recommendations concerning variability in the guarantee of the rights of detained persons and the issues relating to video surveillance. 1.2. Inspection visit to the sobering-up facility of the police detention centre of the public order bureau of the North Prefecture of the PBGB At 6 o’clock in the early morning of 16 November 2013, advisers to the Chancellor made an unannounced inspection visit to the sobering-up facility of the police detention centre of the public order bureau of the North Prefecture of the PBGB (hereinafter the sobering-up facility). A general practitioner was involved in the visit as an expert to assess the provision of health services in the sobering-up facility. PART II PART III The Chancellor identified shortcomings in documenting short-term detention of individuals. It was also found that the catering of detainees was organised differently in different buildings and there is no uniform guarantee of the other rights established by the above guidelines (e.g. distribution of individual hygiene articles, provision of bedclothes). The Chancellor’s attention was also attracted by the use of video surveillance in the cells used for short-term detention. In particular, the Chancellor proposed to the police to ensure the privacy of individuals in the hygiene corner in case of the use of video surveillance. PART IV The inspection visits focused on the execution of short-term detention, including the conditions of detention and implementing of the PBGB Director General’s decree No 488 of 17 November 2010 approving the „Guidelines for short-term detention“34. PART I 20) Piusa border patrol station; 21) Luhamaa border patrol station; 22) Luhamaa road border crossing point. As a result of the inspection, it was found that supervision of the cells in the sobering-up facility might not be sufficient and the Chancellor proposed to the PBGB to find a possibility to install video surveillance in the cells. In the summary of the visit, the Chancellor also stressed once again the importance of properly filling out the reports on the placement of individuals for sobering up and the lawful use of any means of restraint. The PBGB agreed with the recommendations and proposals made in the summary of the Chancellor’s inspection visit. 1.3. Death cases of detained persons in 2012 The Chancellor continued his earlier practice and analysed cases of death of persons detained in police facilities during the year (2012) prior to the reporting year. In doing this, the Chancellor relied on the disciplinary proceedings materials of the PBGB or, in their absence, on the control materials drawn up by the police with regard to deaths of detained persons. According to the information received from the PBGB, 7 persons died in the police detention facilities in 2012. The deaths occurred in the detention chambers in the East, South and North 34 The Chancellor made a proposal to the Minister of Internal Affairs to adopt such guidelines in 2009 (see the Chancellor’s 2009 Overview pp 10-16, available online: http://oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/ overview_2009.pdf). 15