light, both day and night.67 At the time of the visit68 the inmates of the de-escalation
rooms did not have their personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste),69 linen, towel
and pillow. Prisoners could not use their right to take a shower.70 There is no video surveillance system in the isolated corridor in front of the de-escalation cells.
The N8 facility exercise yards are the bottom floor of the apartment buildings. The walking yards are similar to cells and are covered with a metal grid on the top. Chairs and inventory are not appropriate and there is generally depressing atmosphere.71 The prisoners did not have the opportunity to exercise. According to them, they often do not enjoy
the right to walk in the air, because the walk is offered at 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning.
The investigation rooms are located on the two floors of the administrative block of the
establishment. In addition to the investigative authorities, the prisoners meet lawyers,
religious leaders, representatives of international organizations and representatives of
the Ombudsman, with whom conversation confidentiality is guaranteed by law. There
are 37 investigation rooms, 36 of which are equipped with a surveillance camera. This
remaining one is where the representatives of international organisations generally
meet with the prisoners.
There is no heating in the investigation rooms. The rooms do not have windows or central ventilation system either. The rooms are equipped with air conditioners, which in
the second floor rooms operate with difficulties, or sometimes they do not function at
all. Unfortunately, the above-mentioned problem stands since the opening of the N8
facility.
In 2014, the Public Defender addressed the Minister of Corrections with the following
recommendations: to provide each prisoner of the establishment N8 with 4-square-meter area; to remove the extra beds from the cells; to ensure proper ventilation of the
facility; to install the heating system and repair existing air conditioners in the investigation rooms, to install central ventilation system in the investigation rooms; to repair
the roofs of the buildings in order to avoid water leakage on the from the ceilings of the
cells; the prisoners must be allowed to enjoy the fresh air with the right of schedule
during the day; to arrange a yard on the ground level; to provide chairs, exercise and
other necessary equipment in the yards; to repair and properly equip the shower rooms.
67 Switching of the light in the rooms is regulated from the outside, by the employees of the institution.
68 24-26 November2015.
69 According to the officers on duty to the de-escalation cells, they are not providing the prisoners
with toothpaste and toothbrush for the interests of their safety, but these items are stored in the
corridor commode, which did not prove true after we checked.
70 Also right to walk, making phone calls, receive visits, to use the shop, with the right to send correspondence.
71 Problems related to the exercise yards are also marked in the CPT report on the visit to Georgia in
2010, para. 81, available in English at the following address: <http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/
geo/2010-27-inf-eng.htm>
62
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015
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