The following part describes the main shortcomings found during the inspection visits to prisons and partly also the issues which the Chancellor covered in the letter to the Ministry of Justice in connection with the detention conditions in the future new buildings of Tallinn Prison. 3.1. Opportunities to take care of personal hygiene A continuing problem persisting for years relates to poor opportunities of the detained persons to take care of their personal hygiene in Tallinn Prison and the Harku imprisonment department of Harku and Murru Prison. Unfortunately, shortcomings with ensuring the opportunities to take care of personal hygiene for detained persons were also found in Viru Prison. Advisers to the Chancellor found that the shower room of the E1 building of Tallinn Prison was depreciated and during several minutes not enough hot water was coming from the shower head. The detained persons claimed that they could take a shower once a week during 20 minutes. Four to five persons at the same time are taken to the washing room. According to the detained persons, not all showers can be turned on at the same time because then problems with drainage of water appear. The persons also noted that during the allocated 20 minutes it was complicated to wash both oneself and the dirty clothes. The Chancellor recommended to Tallinn Prison to analyse the practice of using shower rooms in the E1 accommodation building and, if necessary, take measures to ensure that detained persons have a realistic opportunity to take care of their personal hygiene which is essential for exercising the right to life in line with human dignity in prison. The Chancellor also recommended to consider renovation of the shower rooms and the hot water system in the E1 building. Tallinn Prison explained in its reply that the renovation of shower rooms in the E1 accommodation building was planned for 2015. Unfortunately, Tallinn Prison was of the opinion that in order to ensure the opportunity for all detained persons to wash at least once a week it was not possible to offer additional times or longer washing periods for the detained persons. In 2011, the Chancellor recommended to Tallinn Prison to create hot water supply in the accommodations buildings of convicted prisoners.17 In the autumn of 2014, renovation of the washing rooms and installing of hot water boilers in the accommodation buildings of convicted prisoners was started. During the visit to Tallinn Prison, a female prisoner talking to the Chancellor’s advisers claimed that on the day prior to the inspection visit she did not have toilet paper with her when arriving in the prison from the police detention centre and, despite having asked for toilet paper from the prison service, she had not been given any toilet paper in the past 24 hours. The Chancellor recommended to Tallinn Prison to pay attention to issuing personal hygiene articles (first and foremost toilet paper, soap, feminine hygiene products and other essentials) to persons newly admitted to prison, and ensure a possibility for such detained persons to receive or obtain hygiene products within a reasonable time. The Chancellor emphasised that in such a situation a reasonable time, for example for providing toilet paper, is not days or weeks. The prison agreed that the detained person should have been provided with toilet paper at the first opportunity and not only after 24 hours. Tallinn Prison affirmed that it would change its 17 See the summary of the Chancellor’s 2011 inspection visit to Tallinn Prison. 20