The adoption of the Law of 1 May 2015 about the Special Penitentiary Service should be regarded as a significant step towards securing accountability of personnel of penitentiary establishments. It defined principles, rules and competences of the Special Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Corrections, the status of its employees, the system of continued professional training, legal, security and social protection guarantees. Besides, Order N 144 of the Minister of Corrections of 19 October 2015 approved Disciplinary Regulations for Employees of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Corrections, encouragement rules, the Code of Ethics which defined bases for imposing disciplinary responsibility and for encouragement, types of disciplinary sanctions and types of encouragement measures, rules for imposition of disciplinary sanctions upon the employees. The Code of Ethics defined standards and rules of behavior that facilitate reinforcement of principles of fairness and responsibility, adequate performance of functions, human rights protection, strengthening trust and respect in the society. The Ministry of Corrections is preparing projects of work descriptions for the personnel of penitentiary establishments describing rights and responsibilities for each position. Despite positive steps, creation of adequate working conditions for the employees of penitentiary establishments remains the problem. There should be sufficient number of employees in such institutions. They should be provided with effective legal and social guarantees of protection, so that the lack of such guarantees does not negatively affect their treatment of prisoners, securing safety and order in the establishment. There is no system of performance evaluation for the administration of penitentiary establishments, which incorporates pre-determined indicators. According to the existing practice, penitentiary establishments send reports to the Penitentiary Department and the Ministry of Corrections on a range of important questions. As regards accountability of individual employees, apart from accountability to the direct supervisor, the alleged violations by employees will be examined by the General Inspection of the Ministry of Corrections. According to the information provided by the Ministry, in 2015 disciplinary sanctions were imposed upon 159 employees. In order to secure accountability and adequate performance of functions by employees of penitentiary establishments, it is necessary to prepare clear work descriptions and guidelines for standard operational procedures and for managing incidents. Unfortunately, under the conditions of absence of the compilation of guiding documents and low qualification of employees, it is difficult for the employees of penitentiary establishments to make decisions in a timely manner. It increases risks for excessive use of force and ill-treatment. 32 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015