3.3.4.2. Surveillance by means of visual and electronic means According to Article 54 (1) of the Imprisonment Code, ‘in case of a reasonable belief, the administration is authorized to conduct surveillance and control through visual and/or electronic means, based on safety of the accused/convicted or other persons and other lawful interests - to prevent suicide, self-injury, violence against accused/convicted or other persons, damage to property, and to avert other crimes and offences. Electronic surveillance is conducted with audio and video devices and/or other technical means of control. The administration may, through electronic means, record the process of surveillance and control, and the information received as a result of this process.’ According to Article 54 (9), the Minister defines the procedure for conducting surveillance and control through visual and/or electronic means, and for storing, deleting and destroying recordings. The Order of the Minister of Corrections of 19 May 2015 approved the regulations concerning visual and/or electronic means of surveillance and control, storing, deleting and destroying recordings. The Public Defender welcomes legal regulation of the question of visual and/or electronic surveillance. Nevertheless, he points out that this regulation is problematic in terms of compatibility with international standards of human rights. According to Article 3 (5) of these regulations, electronic surveillance and control of the accused/convict cannot be extended to showers, toilets, rooms for long-term visits, except for cases envisaged by Georgian legislation. As regards the mentioned reservation, on 19 December 2014, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Minister of Corrections with the proposal to add toilets in prison cells to the list of places that cannot be under surveillance. However, the Minister did not take this proposal into account. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture clearly specifies in its reports based on visits to various countries that as regards the process of surveillance and control in prisoners, the privacy of prisoners should be preserved when they are using toilets and showers.38 It was revealed as a result of visits of the Special Preventive Group to penitentiary establishments that in the absence of the above reservation, privacy of prisoners is not preserved in the establishment N6. Particularly, video cameras are installed in most cells of this establishment and also in some solitary, closed type cells of the establishment N15. Toilet areas are within the camera’s field of vision. The privacy of prisoners is not secured. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture emphasizes that decisions about surveillance and control through visual and/or electronic means should be substantiat38 42 See http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/hun/2010-16-inf-eng.pdf p. 19, para 31; See also http:// www.cpt.coe.int/documents/ita/2013-32-inf-eng.pdf p. 30, para 60[last visited on 12.03.2016]. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015