The Chancellor also continued to pay attention to the issue of prohibition of corporal punishment of children.15 The Chancellor can note with satisfaction that the new Child Protection Act passed by the Riigikogu on 19 November 2014 and entering into effect on 1 January 2016 also contains the prohibition of child abuse. Several proceedings carried out in the framework of the Chancellor’s ombudsman competence also relate to the prevention of ill-treatment: for example, the activities of a prison in handing over official letters to prisoners, allowing long-term visits, carrying out expulsion proceedings, living together with one’s partner in the detention centre and allowing of communication, application of direct coercion and means of restraint by police officers, funding of the nursing care service. On the basis of the above ombudsman proceedings, the Chancellor has made recommendations, proposals and conclusions for changing administrative practices. During the reporting year, the Chancellor also asked Tartu University law faculty’s penal law lecturer Anneli Soo and the faculty’s penal law professor Jaan Sootak to carry out a legal analysis of the role of self-defence and the situation of necessity under penal law as a basis for the restriction of fundamental rights in child care institutions and social welfare and health care institutions.16 The aim of the analysis was to establish to what extent the staff of these institutions are allowed to intervene physically and to apply coercion in respect of children, clients or patients. The conclusions of the analysis also help to improve the Chancellor’s supervision methods as the preventive mechanism for ill-treatment. The following part contains an overview of the inspection visits made by the Chancellor to different places of detention in 2014, highlighting shortcomings that were detected. See also the Chancellor’s public address of 19 November 2012 to the Minister of Social Affairs for the prohibition of corporal punishment of children. 16 Available online in Estonian: http://oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/IMCE/oiguslik_analuus_karistusoigusliku_hadakaitse_ja_hadaseisundi_ rollist_pohioiguste_piiramise_alusena_lasteasutustes_ning_hoolekande-_ja_tervishoiuasutustes_2015.pdf. 15 14