In this regard, it was stated that convicted persons are constantly entitled to submit various types of requests, which are registered in a separate book and depending on the request are then forwarded to the appropriate official who should respond or meet with the convicted person who submitted the request. During the inspection and in this record, it was concluded that the complainant is registered in it, to whom it was addressed and when it was received by the person to whom it was addressed. In addition, officials noted that the director of the Prison regularly makes contact with convicts (usually every Thursday is the director’s reception day for conversations with convicts), and that he performs regular visits and the convicts have the opportunity to address or complain to him immediately about the exercising or (non)compliance with a certain right or legal interest. The very fact that until the day of the visit by the NPM team there was no official record of any submitted request or complaint based on the official forms, indicates that the convicts are not sufficiently familiar with their right and the opportunity to submit a request for exercising some of their rights, legal interest or to file a complaint. This was confirmed by the conversations with the convicts who at the same time stated that they are not sufficiently familiar with their other rights while serving their prison sentences, and that they are not sufficiently familiar with the qualification of disciplinary offenses (what is considered to be a milder and what is a more severe disciplinary injury). In this regard, the NPM team recommends that convicts become aware of their rights and obligations while serving their prison sentences as convicts, at the moment of their admission to the Institution, in a manner adequately understandable for each convicted person separately, and the NPM team also highlighted the need for officials to undertake action to further acquaint convicts with the possibility to apply for the realisation of a right, legal interest or complaint (to hand over copies of the forms for submitting a request, that is a complaint, to each convicted person, and to explain to those who are illiterate in a way that is easily understood by them, as well as to indicate the possibility that they can consult an official who will help them to compile the request, that is, the complaint). In the circle of the institution there are boxes of the Ombudsman for submitting complaints by the convicted persons. Only authorized persons from the Ombudsman’s Office have access to these boxes. www. ombudsman.mk 113

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