According to the information received from the Ministry of Corrections, 174 prisoners were placed in inpatient facilities for involuntary psychiatric assistance in 2014. It is worth noting that this figure was only 76 in 2013. We therefore welcome the increased number of patients transferred to inpatient facilities. Special attention should be paid to evaluating each prisoner’s mental health at the time of admission to a penitentiary institution, during his/her initial medical examination. Prisoners inclined to commit self-aggression or suicide and drug-addicted prisoners should be target groups for mental health screening. In addition, prisoners who systematically demonstrate asocial behavior and there is a doubt that such behavior may be caused by their mental condition must also be subject to mental health assessment. Because there is no effective mechanism for identifying mental health problems, prisoners who injure themselves, breach the prison regime or commit other disciplinary violations are punished with disciplinary sanctions instead of being provided with timely and adequate psychiatric assistance. A change in the Imprisonment Code which obliges a prisoner to reimburse treatment expenses if he/she willfully or negligently injures himself/herself151 extends also to prisoners with mental problems who injure themselves. We believe the right approach to prisoners with mental problems who injure themselves is treatment but not punishment. Prevalence of mental illnesses among the prison population is mostly caused by drug addiction and overuse of psychoactive substances in penitentiary institutions. In its 2013 Report to the Parliament, the Public Defender emphasized the urgent nature of the issue and the need for taking measures to resolve the problem. As a solution, the Public Defender recommended to amend the Joint Order of the Minister of Labor, Health and Social Protection and the Minister of Justice No. 266/N-298 dated 1215 December 2008 on “Rules of implementing replacement therapy programmes to deal with opioid addiction in penitentiary institutions” with a view of introducing a preservation replacement treatment in the penitentiary system. According to the information we received from the Ministry of Corrections, efforts to introduce such replacement treatment in the penitentiary system have commenced. In addition, a psycho-rehabilitation program “Atlantis” has been developed to be launched in 2015. According to the information received, 382 prisoners were involved in the methadone programme in 2014, while the same index in 2013 was 311. We welcome that more prisoners were involved in the methadone programme in the reporting year but, considering the scale of drug addiction in the penitentiary system, this number of prisoners covered is not really sufficient to meet the demand. 151 According to Article 29(2) of the Imprisonment Code, an accused or convicted persons shall reimburse the costs of treatment in case of self-injury or injuries inflicted upon other persons deliberately or with gross negligence. They shall also reimburse any damages inflicted upon the remand facility or the place of deprivation of liberty and any additional expenses related to suppression of his/her escape from the relevant institution. 110 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM OF GEORGIA