JUVENILE PENAL INSTITUTIONS several times. Upon written enquiry, the head of the facility informed the Joint Commission that the checks are in principle carried out every 15 minutes. In the Joint Commission’s view, measures to prevent violence amongst prisoners are at any rate to be welcomed. Given that human rights must be observed, though, it must be ensured that prisoners have access to sanitary facilities at all times. It should also be ensured that help is on hand quickly in an emergency. Response: The amendment made to unlocking times which the Joint Commission reported has led to a significant drop in violent attacks during unlocking times. Further planned organisational restructuring measures will, presumably from March 2015, ensure continuous supervision of prisoners during unlocking times. Until then, prisoners can, as in the past, draw attention to themselves by knocking on the unit door. This already guarantees that a member of staff will be able to react without delay. In addition, the units are checked at intervals of at most 15 minutes during unlocking times. The walls in both the disciplinary detention rooms and individual detention rooms in the pre-trial detention unit had graffiti on them and were dirty. A swastika drawn on the wall of one of the disciplinary detention rooms was particularly noticeable. Placement in a detention room which another prisoner has dirtied or covered with racist graffiti can constitute a 38 violation of human rights. Whenever a detainee is moved out of a detention room special attention should be paid to the fact that comments or drawings of an unconstitutional nature which may be insulting or constitute provocation for certain groups of prisoners must be removed as soon as possible. Response: Staff in the juvenile and youth detention units in Neustrelitz always ensure that comments and drawings of an unconstitutional nature are removed as soon as possible. Since the Joint Commission’s visit record sheets have also been developed for the youth detention unit for use when detainees are moved into or out of their detention rooms, based on the model applied in the juvenile institution. A record of damage, stains, comments and drawings is made on the sheets, and their removal is occasioned at short notice. The Joint Commission suggests including in section 52 (2) of the Act on Youth Imprisonment an explicit reference to the fact that correspondence with the National Agency is not monitored. The same goes for point 7.2 of the house rules. Response: An explicit reference to the fact that correspondence with the National Agency is not monitored will be added to section 52 (2) of the Act on Youth Imprisonment of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania of 1 January 2008 as part of the planned amendment to that Act. The same goes for the reference in the house rules. There is, by contrast, no need to include an explicit reference to the fact that correspondence with the National Agency is not monitored in the draft of the Act on the Execution of Youth Detention of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since there are no stipulations regarding correspondence being monitored during youth detention (section 16 (2), second sentence, Act on Juvenile Detention of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). 2.5.2 – Positive findings Neustrelitz Juvenile Institution opened in 2001. As a result, all the buildings and facilities are in very good condition. The prison has very pleasant and welltended outdoor facilities, including several ponds, vegetable patches and greenhouses, a vineyard and a farm. The buildings are also all light, well looked after and have a friendly appearance. Only the windows in the disciplinary detention rooms have perforated sheets in front of them. The perforated sheets actually allow sufficient daylight to enter the rooms so that they are adequately lit. The windows can also be opened, so that sufficient fresh air is available. The facility also largely does without peepholes, which are only fitted to the doors to the disciplinary detention rooms. The delegation was also impressed by the mother-and-child unit, especially its child-oriented design, furnishings and fittings. The Joint Commission would like to make positive mention of the fact that prisoners are given overalls to wear when they are placed in the specially secured room. In view of the need to observe human rights, this option is more preferable than the use of paper clothing, such as that used in other prisons. Depending on requirements, a mobile partition wall can be set up in front of the sanitary facilities in the cell which has CCTV monitoring so that the privacy of the person detained is sufficiently guaranteed. 38 see Federal Constitutional Court, order of 15 July 2010, file no. 2 BvR 1023/08 41