It is noteworthy that the basis for the application of placement, its procedure and legal safeguards are not stipulated in law; they are governed by the sub-legislative normative act issued by the Minister. Due to the fact that placement in a de-escalation room is a restrictive measure by its nature, it is important that this measure should be governed by law. In the Parliamentary Report of 2015, the Public Defender proposed to the Parliament of Georgia to provide statutory regulation for the basis of placement of inmates in de-escalation rooms, its procedure and a maximum reasonable term not exceeding 24 hours. It was also proposed by the Public Defender that the official in charge of placement, as well as reasoning standards for the application of the measure and appropriate legal safeguards should be governed by law. It should be pointed out that the aforementioned proposal has not been fulfilled. Apart from the above-mentioned, in his Parliamentary Report of 2015, the Public Defender recommended to the Minister of Corrections to ensure that video recordings from de-escalation rooms were stored for at least a month. However, this recommendation has not been fulfilled and the recordings are stored in accordance with a general rule – for no less than 120 hours. It should be reiterated that placement in a de-escalation room is a coercive measure aimed at maintaining order and safety, application of which is characterised by increased risks of inciting self-harm or use of force against other inmates. This, in turn, increases the risk of ill-treatment. In accordance with the existing regulations, the recordings of visual and/or electronic surveillance are to be archived based on a decision of a particular official in case of a breach of the legal regime. The commission of an alleged crime, death of remand/convict or any other act that could result in any of the aforementioned outcome are such cases. The Public Defender, therefore, observes that the surveillance recordings from de-escalation rooms should not be archived based on the decision of a particular official; instead, these recordings should be automatically archived in all cases. It is possible that, at the material time, there was no basis for archiving recordings in accordance with the regulations in force; however, after the lapse of certain time, an inmate might lodge a complaint and allege the violation of his/her rights in a de-escalation room. It should be also taken into consideration that these recordings will serve as a safeguard against false and unsubstantiated accusations against administration. In the light of the above-mentioned, the position of the Public Defender remains the same. Placement of inmates in de-escalation rooms should occur only within the scopes of clear statutory regulation and where there are sufficient legal safeguards against human rights violations by such measures. Such placements should only be allowed if there are statutory provisions in place determining the authority of the officials to place an inmate in a de-escalation room, reasoning standards of application of the measure and maximum term limited to 24 hours. PROPOSAL TO THE PARLIAMENT OF GEORGIA: • To regulate by law the grounds for placement of inmates in de-escalation rooms, its procedure and a maximum reasonable term not exceeding 24 hours; NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 43