SITUATION IN PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS and sentenced prisoners were alone in their cells.71 Neither were they serving a disciplinary punishment nor was there any other circumstance to justify this fact. Unless it is in the interest of the individual sentenced prisoner’s personal security or at his own initiative, placing him alone in a cell can have harmful effects on his psychological and physical wellbeing. The European Court of Human Rights has explained that keeping a sentenced prisoner isolated in a cell for a long period of time may amount to inhuman treatment.72 In the course of monitoring, trustees of the Public Defender have found that juvenile remand prisoners and adult sentenced prisoner were able to contact each other, in the Penitentiary Institutions Nos. 8 and 2. Pursuant to Article 8(d) of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults. The same standard is enshrined in the Order of the Georgian Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance No. 97.73 The monitoring also showed that nine inmates in the Institution No. 7 have had lung tuberculosis in the past and three inmates were undergoing treatment within the DOTS program. These individuals were accommodated together with other prisoners who were not infected with tuberculosis. This circumstance coupled with the existing improper conditions creates an unfavorable epidemiological situation. Recommendations: To the Minister of Corrections QQ When moving prisoners from one establishment to another, the prisoners should be made aware of the grounds and reasons of their transfer, which should be documented by drawing up a relevant protocol; they should also be informed about their right to challenge the transfer order. To the Chairperson of the Penitentiary Department QQ To completely separate juvenile prisoners from adult prisoners; QQ To accommodate prisoners infected with tuberculosis separately, in any event; QQ When allocating prisoners to penitentiary institutions, to take into consideration proximity of the institutions to their homes or their relatives’ homes; QQ To ensure that prisoners are allocated to the appropriate types of penitentiary institutions as required by law. 72 Mathew v. The Netherlands, Judgment of 29 September 2005. 2013 71 For example, in the Institution No. 7. 73 Article 19(16). NPM Report 27