Report on the Performance of the Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2019 1.1.1. FULFILLING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NPM IN THE PRISON SYSTEM Acting in line with the powers granted us by the Act on the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ANPM), during 2019 we made unannounced visits to prisons in Šibenik, Zagreb, Sisak and Varaždin. The visit to the Zagreb County Prison was targeted, with a focus on respect for the rights pertaining to accommodation in high-security units, while the other visits also focused on how the treatment, order and security, and complaints departments were organised. Following the visits, we issued 11 warnings (one to the Ministry of Justice (MJ), six to COPSPD and four to the penal institutions and 44 recommendations (one to MJ, 16 to COPSPD and 27 to penal institutions), while an evaluation of their implementation will be issued after we have received all the reports and carried out follow-up visits. Acommodation conditions According to COPSPD data, the prison population increased over the past four years. On 31 December 2019, secure detention units were at less than 100% capacity in just three out of a total of 14 prisons, while in six prisons, they were at more than 120% capacity, which is considered critical according to European Committee on Crime Problems (ECCP) standards. The situation was the worst in the Karlovac (175%), Osijek (174%) and Požega (167%) County Prisons. 6 In the Sisak County Prison, whose population was at 167% capacity, tables occasionally have to be taken out of rooms so that mattresses could fit in. In conversations with prisoners, they described to us how one person slept on a mattress on a table, and another on a mattress beneath the table, which is degrading. Due to the overcrowding, both prisoners and convicts were together in individual rooms, which is contrary to the EPSA. Also, the common rooms have been repurposed to accommodate persons in detention even though they have almost no daylight, while the rooms lack the space for sufficient number of lockers, so some persons have to keep their personal belongings in boxes under their beds. In all penal institutions, sanitation facilities are still not physically separated from the rest of the rooms, for instance, in the Zagreb County Prison. This makes privacy impossible, and in certain cases is degrading – as persons deprived of liberty also eat in their rooms, it does happen that a person is having their meal at the same time as another is defecating. In certain penal institutions, showers are not partitioned off with panneling, so the prisoners have no privacy whilst they shower.