X)  Prison visits 1) Dividing visits The prisons visited took varying approaches to the possibility of dividing the statutory 3 hours of visits per month. Some prisons allowed the convicts to divide the three-hour visits per month into two visits, 1.5 hour each. Other prisons, on the other hand, did not allow this and the convicts had to receive a single visit lasting three hours. In my opinion, the former approach, although undoubtedly more demanding in terms of organisation, is suitable and desirable. In contrast, due to a lack of capacity, in one of the prisons the convicts were ordered to divide visits instead of having a single three-hour visit. I recommended that the prisons allow the convicts to divide visits; this should, however, be optional, not mandatory. Where it is impossible to divide visits, this may have a limiting effect on contact with close persons because the number of visitors per visit is limited, and when the arranged visit is unable to arrive, the convict loses visits for the whole month. Mandatory division of visits into two halves may have an equally limiting effect on contacts with close persons considering that, especially for convicts placed far away from home, a visit lasting 1.5 hours may be insufficient. I would like to note in this respect that the statutory 3-hour visiting period is an obsolete minimum standard that no longer corresponds with the modern concept of punishment, which focuses on adapting prison conditions to free life and maintaining contact with the family. 133 In my opinion, the duration of visits should be extended while leaving it to the convict to decide whether he uses the set visiting period all at once or schedules more visits spread over several weeks. In this respect, I identify with the recommendation of the CPT made in the 2014 report from visits in the Czech Republic, proposing that all convicts should be allowed to receive visits every week, each lasting at least one hour. 134 I would also like to point out that convicts’ right to the minimum visiting period is laid down in Section 19 (1) of the Imprisonment Act, which does not prohibit prisons from regulating longer visiting periods in their internal rules (or in any other manner). I recommend that the General Directorate of the Prison Service: •• Allowes convicts to receive visits for more than 3 hours per month, leaving it to them to decide how they schedule the visits, and incorporate this change in Art. 13 of Annex No. 2 to RDG No. 4/2011 (model internal rules); this should be implemented by 30 June 2016. 133 Paradoxically, most convicts have the objective of maintaining contacts with the family or generally with close persons laid down in their treatment programme. 134 EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF TORTURE AND INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT (CPT). Report to the Czech Government on the visit to the Czech Republic carried out by the CPT from 1 March to 10 April 2014. [online]. Strasbourg: European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) [retrieved on 1 December 2015]. P. 48. Available at: http://www.cpt.coe.int/docu – ments/cze/2015-18-inf-cze.pdf. /48/