to the annual Council of Europe survey, Georgia is among the countries with the highest incarceration rates.17 It is a positive development that by December 2016, in comparison to the same period of 2015, the total number of remand and convicted persons decreased by 382. The Public Defender deems it necessary that the Criminal Justice policies should be aimed at the application of non-custodial measures, rehabilitation of convicts and their reintegration into the society. The large number of prisoners, as well as the large size of penitentiary establishments, creates substantial challenges in terms of maintaining order and security in the penitentiary system and ensuring adequate conditions and services. Therefore, the Public Defender positively assesses the introduction of the new category of a non-custodial sentences – home detention18- for juvenile offenders who have been found guilty of less grievous offences, and the execution of punishments imposed on minors through electronic monitoring without resorting to their isolation from the public. The Public Defender welcomes the introduction, in the Parliament by the Ministry of Corrections, of the draft amendments about setting up the new type of an establishment of deprivation of liberty in the penitentiary system that will ensure preparation of convicts for their release. In accordance with the said draft amendments, the local council of the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia will be entrusted, upon the written request of a convict and where the statutory grace period has been served, to commute the rest of the sentence with a more lenient sentence – home detention. It is essential for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment that the state does not allow impunity. The state has a duty to respond appropriately to incidents of alleged torture and ill-treatment. Accordingly, as in the years of 2013, 2014, and 2015, the position of the Public Defender remains the same concerning the creation of an independent investigative body for ensuring effective investigation of incidents of ill-treatment allegedly committed in penitentiary establishments. In 2016 the Public Defender submitted three proposals for launching investigation on alleged physical abuse of inmates. During the visits made in 2016, the members of the Special Preventive Group obtained information on isolated incidents of ill-treatment. In the reporting period, it is still a problem that the definition of torture in the Criminal Code of Georgia does not comply with the definition given by the UN Convention against Torture. Besides, the Georgian legislation and practice do not provide legal aid for the torture victims at state expense. Ensuring respect for confidentiality of interactions between health-care professionals and prisoners remains problematic in penitentiary establishments. In most of the penitentiary establishments, during placement of a prisoner in the establishment, administration personnel are present at his/her medical examination by a health-care professional. 17 18 14 Council of Europe, Press release - DC031(2017), available in English at: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?p&Ref=DC-PR031%282017%29&Language=lanEnglish&Ver=original&Site=DC&BackColorInternet=F5CA75&BackColorIntranet=F5CA75&BackColorLogged=A9BACE&direct=true [Last visited on 27.03.2017]. The Juvenile Justice Code, Article 69. HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CLOSED INSTITUTIONS