Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2017 of the Criminal Procedure Act should be amended in order to prescribe different types and measures of punishment, as well as the procedure in terms of execution thereof. Judicial protection According to records of the COPSPD, in 2017, the number of complaints filed to the heads of prisons grew by 7%. At the same time, the Lepoglava State Prison accounted for the 68% of all the complaints. Although some positive trends have been observed during our visits to penal institutions, especially when it came to records keeping, persons deprived of liberty are still dissatisfied given the insufficient effectiveness of legal remedies. Mostly, they complain of the way complaints are handled – mostly superficially and in an incomplete manner, without providing the facts that the decision on their justification is based on. They are dissatisfied with executing judges’ behaviour and state that proceedings launched on the basis of their requests for judicial protection were too lengthy and that decisions are issued on the basis of penal institutions’ reports only. According to records of the COPSPD, in 2017, only 36 requests for judicial protection were assessed as justified due to a breach of right to accommodation in line with human dignity and health standards. Judicial protection was granted to prisoners serving their sentence Although some positive trends have been observed during our visits of penal institutions, especially when it came to records keeping, persons deprived of liberty are still dissatisfied given the insufficient effectiveness of legal remedies. at the Lepoglava State Prison only, and not a single request put forward by prisoners from other penal institutions was assessed as justified. Prisoners’ allegations that, despite the obligations from the EPSA, executing judges did not visit them at least once a year, are backed by the records of the COPSPD confirming that the executing judges did not at all visit four penal institutions, including the Zagreb County Prison in 2017. Also, prisoners on remand complain about irregular visits of the relevant judge. For example, the relevant County Court judge visited the Dubrovnik County Prison on four occasions in 2017, although he was obliged to visit prisoners on remand at least once a week. Since, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, judges are obliged to apply measures to correct irregularities observed during prison visits, we have notified the Ministry of Justice about this problem and its potential negative effects on respect of rights of prisoners on remand. Prisoners’ work In accordance with the EPSA, the right to prisoners’ work is considered to be a positive element in serving a prison sentence and may not be used for purposes of imposing additional punishments. Prisoners can chose the type of work within the framework of jobs offered in line with their professional background and options available within the prison. Work represents an important element of individual programmes of execution of prison sentence and, as such, it is available to prisoners depending on their health conditions and knowledge, provided that they pass a test on legislation regarding occupational health and safety. In accordance with the EPSA and the Ordinance on Work and Professional Training, List and Job Descriptions of Prisoners and Compensation for Work and Awards, a special List and Job Description for Prisoners is being prepared. It includes the details regarding the necessary time for training, coefficient of job complexity and number of persons engaged in work. 16