complaints of convicted and persons in custody. Complaints of persons detained in custody, as in previous reporting periods, referred to the length of custody, violation of the right to trial within a reasonable deadline and violation of the right to fair trial117, as well as to the violation of the right to health protection. With regards to women in custody, the situation is unchanged so, because of their relatively small number, they still very often serve their measure in solitary confinement, so that what is the disciplinary measure for convicts, for female persons in custody is a regular manner implementation of the custody measure. Also, in comparison to previous reporting periods, in this one too, the circumstances in which female convicts and juveniles are accommodated at special institutes, the only institutes designed for these purposes in the Republic of Serbia have not changed, so the rule that, like other convicts, they serve their sentence closer to the place of their residence is not applied to them. Complaints of convicts accommodated at the institutes for the execution of criminal sanctions referred primarily to the dissatisfaction with the provided health protection and treatment work. The example of good practice at PCI in Belgrade prove that the results of the implementation of the activities of many years among employees at the institutions for the execution of criminal sanctions towards raising of the awareness on unallowed any form of abuse took place. In this example in the oversight procedure the Protector of Citizens confirmed that the overseen body timely recognized unallowed conduct of employees and that by activating of internal control mechanisms in the fight against torture took all legally stipulated activities with the aim of the protection of rights of persons deprived of liberty. The Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions continued with the activities on the improvement of material conditions of the accommodation conditions of persons deprived of liberty and increase of the capacity of the institute for the execution of criminal sanctions in compliance with the activities stipulated by the Strategy of the development of the execution of criminal sanctions and Strategy of the reduction of overload of accommodation capacities in the institutes for the execution of criminal sanctions by 2020. What is concerning is the fact that the Protector of Citizens received a small number of complaints of persons deprived of liberty at psychiatric institutions and residential care institutions, especially taking into consideration the unchanged condition in this field, as well as the fact that the competent bodies in the reporting period did not take activities towards the improvement of the position of persons who reside at these institutions and the shortcomings to which it was indicated in previous reports are not removed. The unfavorable position of persons deprived of liberty at psychiatric institutions and residential care institutions is, inter alia, the consequence of the shortcomings in the normative framework which regulates this field. Therefore, the Protector of Citizens as in previous years, indicates to the need for amendments to the Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities118 and improvement of the Law especially in terms of the creation of conditions for efficient and sustainable functioning of the system of “deinstitutionalization”. This system, apart from health care comprises also the social aspect and creation of corresponding conditions for provision and necessary support to persons with mental disabilities and their families for life outside psychiatric institutions in the environment which is to the least Taking into consideration that the Protector of Citizens is not authorized to oversee the legality and regularity of the court operation, complainants were referred to contact competent bodies with respect to this. 118 “Official Gazette of RS“, no. 45/13. 117 - 72 -

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