equipment is not designated for screening remand/convicted persons.94 The Public Defender recommends to the Minister of Probations to ensure the use of scanning as an alternative method of screening in all penitentiary establishments and have the relevant obligation in place by the statutes of penitentiary establishments. In contravention to the statements made by the Ministry of Corrections at various meetings, according to which the representatives of the Ministry attributed strip searches to the need to document injuries. Hereby the Public Defender wishes to emphasise that the aforementioned statement is inaccurate since strip search in its nature is a completely different procedure that has nothing to do with documenting injuries. Strip search by the security unit personnel of an establishment aims at seizing banned items, materials and food products. Whereas, documenting aims at registering by a health-care professional, in confidentiality and with the informed consent of the patient concerned, the incidents of alleged torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The series of monitoring carried out by the Special Preventive Group revealed that there is no uniform practice with regard to the screening of the persons authorised to enter a penitentiary establishment. According to the information obtained during the monitoring, those visiting short-term and long-term are inspected differently. Short-term visitors are inspected while dressed, with a pat down on their clothes and by using a metal detector. Long-term visitors have to remove clothes from different parts of body at a time (apart from underwear) and are inspected with a metal detector. Several prisoners at establishment no. 5 expressed their indignation to the members of the Special Preventive Group that visiting minors were strip-searched. Under the Nelson Mandela Rules, body cavity searches should be avoided and should not be applied to children.95 In this context, it should be noted that in accordance with the statutes of penitentiary establishments, screening of those authorised to enter implies inspection of personal items and clothes. It is also stated that the inspection of a visitor may only be carried out when there is a reasonable suspicion that the person concerned intends to smuggle illegal items, material and food products in or take illegally purchased valuables from the penitentiary establishment. The aforementioned regulations state nothing about the obligations to carry out full searches or scanning of those who are authorised to enter a penitentiary establishment. However, according to the well-established arbitrary practice, both short and long-term visitors of prisoners are obliged to undergo full searches in a brazen breach of the legislation in force. The existence of the practice of using scans as a screening method of those authorised to enter a penitentiary establishment and the full search as an alternative method is further 94 95 Letter no. MOC 717 00104588 of the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia dated 2 February 2017 (registered under no. 03-3/1748 in the Public Defender’s Office). The Nelson Mandela Rules, Rule no. 60.2. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 57