3.2. Clothing of detained persons
During the inspection visit to Viru Prison, almost all the detained persons who talked to the
Chancellor’s advisers complained that the clothing provided to them was too thin and in late
autumn and winter it was cold to wear it outdoors. In addition, several remand prisoners
(including minors) talking to the Chancellor’s advisers claimed that they had not been outdoors
for several weeks because they lacked personal warm clothing needed for this.
The Chancellor recommended to Viru Prison to ensure that all the detained persons (including
remand prisoners, if necessary) are provided with sufficient clothing which is seasonally
appropriate and conforms to the persons’ state of health and opportunities for movement. The
Chancellor also recommended to analyse the appropriateness of the clothing provided by the
prison to the detained persons and, if necessary, change the practice of the provision of clothing
(i.e. offer clothes which are appropriate).
3.3. Outdoor exercise
The follow-up visit to the Harku imprisonment department of Harku and Murru Prison revealed
that the recommendation made by the Chancellor after the inspection in 2013 to provide
benches and take measures against inclement weather in the areas intended for outdoor exercise
had been partly complied with (a roof covering the walking yard had been installed but in the
new areas used for outdoor exercise there were not enough opportunities to find shelter from
poor weather).
The Chancellor made a repeated recommendation to Harku and Murru Prison to provide
walking areas (i.e. walking areas at both ends of the accommodation building and the walking
yard) with an opportunity to find shelter from poor weather and have rest if necessary (the latter
is particularly important for elderly detainees). Harku and Murru Prison replied to the
Chancellor that the prison had provided additional facilities for rest in the walking area for
prisoners and promised to deal with the issue of finding shelter from poor weather.
Unfortunately, the prison still did not see a possibility to build a wall in the waking yard for
prisoners.
Viru Prison also had problems with outdoor exercise. In particular, it was found that the persons
detained in departments E2, E3, E4 (remand prisoners) and P1 and P2 (locked cells and
punishment cells) could not return from the walk to their cell before the scheduled time (the
guards are occupied with other duties at the same time). Exercise yards did not have call buttons
or other means to signal to the guard or attract attention to oneself in case the person does not
feel well or starts feeling cold and wishes to return from the exercise yard before the end of the
scheduled hour or before the time agreed with the guard.
The Chancellor made a recommendation to Viru Prison to provide all the exercise yards with
the relevant means (e.g. call buttons, video surveillance), so that the detained persons could get
in touch with a prison officer or attract attention to oneself. The Chancellor also recommended
to Viru Prison to proceed in its work from the principle that persons should be escorted back
from the walking area to their cell within a reasonable time after expressing the relevant wish.
In case of exercise yards in the departments E2, E3 and E4 and also P1 and P2, as well as
exercise yards in the open departments, the Chancellor found that the roofs above the exercise
22
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents