Under the European Prison Rules, punishment shall not include total prohibition of family contact.197 Under the Imprisonment Code, the right to telephone conversations, the right to receive and send private correspondence, and short visit privileges may not be restricted at the same time.198 It was pointed out in the Parliamentary Report by the Public Defender of 2015 that it was revealed based on the study of the case-files on disciplinary penalties in establishment no. 7, on 19 occasions in 2015, prisoners of this establishment were fully banned from contacting the outside world199; out of this, two prisoners on two occasions. In one case, convict K.D. was prohibited from contacting the outside world for 91 days in total. It should be pointed out that as the result of the monitoring visit of the Special Preventive Group members to establishment no. 7 on 19 June 2015, the Public Defender recommended to the Minister of Corrections to take all necessary measures to ensure that imposition of disciplinary penalty was not followed by the full ban on contacting family. The similar recommendation was given in the Parliamentary Report of 2015 as well. As the result of the inspection conducted by the Inspectorate General of the Ministry, a disciplinary penalty was imposed on the director of establishment no. 7 and its lawyer on the account of the failure to comply with the requirements of Article 82.5, Article 665.2, Article 6651.b), Article 82.4, and Article 82.l) of the Imprisonment Code. Besides, due to the aforementioned violations, in accordance with Article 601.1, 601.3, 601.7.a), and 601.8 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia, 14 Orders of the director of establishment no. 7, taken with regard to ten convicts on application of disciplinary penalty, were annulled.200 The Public Defender hopes that the Inspectorate General, within the systematic monitoring, will continue the examination of the practice of the use of disciplinary penalties in order to prevent their arbitrary imposition. The Public Defender welcomes the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia conducting an official inspection and expresses his hope that similar inspections will be regularly conducted in all establishments of the Penitentiary Department. It is a positive fact that, there were no incidents of imposing full bans on contacts with relatives in 2016 using disciplinary penalties in establishment no. 7. Stemming from the above-mentioned, it is imperative to amend Article 82 of the Imprisonment Code and abolish all kinds of bans on contact with outside from the categories of disciplinary penalties such as restriction of the right to telephone conversations,201 restriction of the right to receive and send private correspondence,202 and prohibition of short visit privileges.203 197 Rule 60.4. 198 Article 82.5. 199 Short visit privileges, the right to telephone conversations, the right to receive and send private correspondence. 200 The Opinions of the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia on the Recommendations Determined by the Resolution of the Parliament of Georgia regarding the Report of the Public Defender of Georgia on Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia in 2015. 201 Imprisonment Code, Article 82.1.h). 202 Ibid., para. 1.i). 203 Ibid., para. 1.l) NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 99