2.3. Protection from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2.3.1. Violence 2.3.1.1. Violence by the personel of the establishment During the monitoring visits to the penitentiary establishments in 2020,41 the special preventive group received information about the alleged cases of physical violence against the prisoners by the staff of the establishments in only two cases. In one case, a prisoner explained that the personnel at the N8 facility had twisted his arms and beaten him with their hands and feet. In the second case, the prisoner stated that the staff of the N6 facility forced him into the de-escalation room, laid him on the floor, and because the prisoner was screaming, covered his face with a sweater. According to the prisoner, as a result of covering with the sweater, he could no longer breathe, had a panicked feeling of suffocation and suffered severe psychological suffering. During visits to closed and high-risk penitentiary establishments, the Special Preventive Group were notified of 4 cases42 of aggressive treatment and verbal abuse of prisoners by staff. According to the information received, in the above-mentioned cases, the staff of the institution verbally abused the prisoners because they were going on a hunger strike in protest, sending complaints and calling the Public Defender's Office. In some cases, inmates reported that staff at the facility did not provide them with a pen and paper so as not to write a complaint, and threatened to restrict their right to telephone conversations as a disciplinary sanction if they called the Public Defender. 43 In assessing the situation with regard to violence against prisoners in penitentiary institutions, in addition to the information received during preventive visits, the letters/complaints sent by prisoners to the Public Defender's Office, where prisoners indicated physical and psychological violence by staff should be taken into account. In 2020, the Office of the Public Defender received 12 such letters/complaints from closed and special risk penitentiary institutions, which in all cases were sent to the State Inspector to take action. Out of the mentioned 12 cases, 6 letters/complaints were received from the N6 penitentiary establishment, 3 letters/complaints - from the N3 facility facility and 3 letters/complaints - from the N8 penitentiary facility. In all three letters/complaints received from the N3 penitentiary establishment, inmates reported allegations of physical violence by staff of the facility, including management, while in the de-escalation rooms. According to the inmates, the violence was manifested in beatings, hand-wringing, and long-term handcuffing, which resulted in inmates receiving bodily injuries. In one case the prisoner claimed to be beaten with the bottles full of water in order not to leave the trace of violence on the body. In all four cases reported from the N6 penitentiary facility the prisoners indicated that the personnel of the facility In 2020, monitoring visits were carried out to N17 Penitentiary Establishment, N8 Penitentiary Establishment, N3 Penitentiary Establishment, N10 Penitentiary Establishment, N11, N12, N8, N18 and N6 Penitentiary Establishments. 42 2 reports about a prisoner in facility N6 and 2 reports about a prisoner in facility N8. 43 In all of the above cases, the prisoners refused to have a legal action from the Public Defender. 41 32