of their duties. The decision about giving incentives to prisoners is taken by the director of an establishment. As an incentive, a prisoner can be commended, afforded short and long visits, exempted from a reprimand or other disciplinary penalty, etc. Under the Imprisonment Code, the participation of a convicted person in rehabilitation programmes shall be taken into account when assessing the degree of his/her rehabilitation and when granting an incentive to him/her.219 See the statistics of giving incentives to prisoners in penitentiary establishments in 2015 and 2016 in the below table. Penitentiary Establishments Number of Occasions of Giving Incentives 2015 Number of Occasions of Giving Incentives 2016 No. 2 No. 3 No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 No. 11 No. 12 No. 14 No. 15 No. 16 No. 17 No. 18 No. 19 Total 270 47 147 127 0 359 6 42 33 184 579 52 462 8 8 2 324 95 7 51 99 5 243 8 24 33 59 463 38 292 19 24 1460 Number of Number of Occasions of Occasions of Giving Incentives Giving Incentives to Participate in to Participate in Rehabilitation Rehabilitation Activities in 2015 Activities in 2016 17 10 26 12 0 0 0 31 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 107 0 0 33 3 0 0 0 16 0 0 32 11 0 0 0 95 According to the data in the table above, it is evident that the occasions, where prisoners were given incentives in penitentiary establishments, decreased by 37.2 in 2016 According to the explanation given by the Ministry of Corrections, in 2016, 1325 convicts took part in professional and educational programs in total.220 Out of this number, in 105 219 Imprisonment Code, Article 117.2. 220 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. 104 HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CLOSED INSTITUTIONS