cerning sanitation and hygiene conditions in the cells of prison facility, which remain unsatisfactory. The cells need to be repaired; there is no hot water in toilets and prisoners have to hand wash their clothes with cold water straight under taps. It is noteworthy that, unlike establishments nos. 6, and 8, the prisoners serving a life sentence in establishment no. 7 were not allowed to exercise the right to long visits. In 2016, there were no diverse and systematic rehabilitation activities in those establishments where prisoners serving a life sentence are placed. Besides, these prisoners have fewer meetings and telephone calls than allowed under the legislation in force. As of December 2016, there were foreign nationals from 35 countries and stateless persons in the penitentiary system of Georgia. The Public Defender welcomes printing a brochure on the rights of foreign prisoners in various languages. However, due to the limited number of publication, sufficient copies are unavailable for all foreign prisoners. The foreign prisoners, due to their language barriers, face problems in communication with personnel, including the medical staff. Foreign prisoners, unlike other prisoners, cannot participate in the activities available in their establishments. According to the foreign prisoners, due to the cost of phone calls abroad, they cannot afford to talk frequently with their family members. Besides, sending letters and receiving parcels appear to be costly for the foreign prisoners. The dietary needs of various religions are not taken into consideration when preparing food in establishments. Therefore, they frequently refuse to eat the food offered to them. It should be positively mentioned that after 1 January 2016, remand persons no more need permission of an investigator, a prosecutor or a court for short visits, correspondence and telephone calls.19 However, there are still problems concerning the detention conditions of remand persons. In particular, rehabilitation activities are not provided for the remand placed in penitentiary establishments. They spend 23 hours in their cells so that they do not have any possibility to be engaged in worthwhile activities in which they would be interested. Besides, in establishments nos. 2, and 8, in numerous cases, remand and convicted persons are placed together in some occasions. This is in breach of the Imprisonment Code and unjustifiable for security reasons as well. Furthermore, the Public Defender observes that it is important to ensure each remand is provided with 4 m2 living space. This proposal was made to the Parliament of Georgia in 2015 Parliamentary Report. However, this proposal has not been followed.20 Similarly, the proposal of the Public Defender concerning allowing remand persons to have long visits has not been followed. It was still a problem in 2016 that during placement of prisoners their place of residence was not taken into consideration. Short visits are held in rooms with window partitions. This does not allow a prisoner to have any physical contact with family members. It is noteworthy that the infrastructure allows video visits only in five penitentiary establishments. 19 20 Until 2 January 2016, an remand person could use one short-term visit only with the permission of either a prosecutor, or an investigator; could use the right to correspondence and telephone calls with the permission of an investigator, a prosecutor or a court. Under Article 15.3 of the Imprisonment Code, living space per remand person in a prison facility should not be less than 3 m2. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 21