occasions, prisoners were given incentives to participate in rehabilitation activities. Accordingly, it turns out that out of 1325 convicts only 8% were given incentives for participating in rehabilitation activities, which is a rather low indicator. Furthermore, it is unclear why incentives were not given in other cases. In the Parliamentary Report of 2015, the Public Defender recommended to the Minister of Corrections to ensure that the incentive forms were more frequently used in establishments nos. 3, 7, 9, 11, and 19. However, the cases of giving incentives even went down in establishment no. 3 in 2016. The incentive indicator increased in establishments nos. 7, 9, 18, and 19. The same indicator remained the same in establishment no. 12. As regards other establishments, the incentive indicator decreased there in 2016, which is negatively assessed. The Public Defender observes that frequent incentives will weaken the influence of the criminal subculture in penitentiary establishments and will contribute to prisoners’ re-socialisation. It is, therefore, imperative to strengthen the incentive system in all penitentiary establishments and, among others, enhance the incentives of prisoners for taking part in rehabilitation activities. RECOMMENDATION TO THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONS OF GEORGIA: • To elaborate guidelines for the use of disciplinary penalties in order to ensure uniform practice of the imposition of disciplinary penalties in all establishments of the Penitentiary Department; • To take all necessary measures to ensure that prisoners are adequately informed about the disciplinary procedure and their rights; that they are afforded sufficient time and facility to defend themselves; have lawyers and are given explanations; can bring witnesses and adduce evidence (among them, they should be able to request surveillance recordings and their examination); can pose questions to those employees whose reports served as the basis for pending disciplinary proceedings; • To ensure disciplinary penalties are used as the last resort; • To ensure placement in a solitary confinement cell, as a disciplinary penalty, is used only in exceptional cases; • To take all necessary measures to ensure that prisoners with mental problems are not placed in a solitary confinement cell; • To take all necessary measures to ensure that during imposition of a disciplinary penalty, contact with family is not completely banned; • To take all necessary measures to ensure that a multidisciplinary group, with its relevant strategy, works with prisoners in de-escalation rooms and disciplinary NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2016 105