conversations a month at his/her own expense, each lasting for not longer than 15 minutes, and, as an incentive, an unlimited number of telephone conversations, each lasting
for not longer than 15 minutes.248
A convicted person serving a sentence in a high risk prison facility may enjoy 1 telephone
conversation a month at his/her own expense, lasting for not longer than 10 minutes,
and, as an incentive, 1 additional telephone conversation not longer than 10 minutes at
his/her own expense.249 Prisoners serving their sentence in a high risk prison facility, in
their conversations with the members of the Special Preventive Group, expressed their
indignation concerning the mere 10 minute telephone conversation in a month. Against
the background, where the prisoners of a high risk prison facility are not allowed to a long
visit and can only have one short visit in a month, one telephone conversation will not
enable them to maintain adequate contact with their family. It is therefore imperative to
make relevant changes to the Imprisonment Code and increase the number of telephone
calls for the prisoners of this category.
According to Letter no. MOC31700081256 of the Ministry of Corrections of 20 February
2017, there are two, so-called ‘old’ and ‘new’, telephone companies that provide services
for prisoners in penitentiary establishments. The telephones of the so-called ‘old’ provider are gradually switched off in the penitentiary establishments.
When making calls from ‘old’ telephones, the prisoners face problems regarding conversation limits. In particular, if a prisoner does not use talking limit on a telephone card, the
rest of the limit is blocked. Accordingly, he/she will have to purchase a new card, which
involves extra expenses. The telephone cards also get blocked whenever a prisoner fails
to talk after dialling the number (telephone line was cut off, or wrong number was dialled
or, other reasons)
As regards telephone calls made from the ‘new’ phones, according to prisoners in a
closed type establishment, they could only call five telephone numbers previously agreed
with the administration within a month. In an open type establishment, ten such telephone numbers could be called. It was possible to replace the phone numbers only after
a month; a prisoner could not call the numbers which had not been previously notified
to the administration, as well as the numbers that were not registered to the persons,
prisoners wanted to reach. According to the convicts, the restrictions also applied to calls
made to public agencies, including the Public Defender, as well as to the calls made to
lawyers. Regarding this issue, the Office of the Public Defender addressed the Ministry
of Corrections with the letter no. 11-2/9578 on 19 August 2016. According to Letter no.
MOC01600728661 received from the Ministry of Corrections on 25 August 2016, the Ministry had selected a new telephone company through a tender and it is obliged to redeem
all the shortcomings identified in providing telephone services until now and offer quality
services to prisoners. To this end, the company works in beta phase and to provide quality services it needs the list of pre-determined telephone numbers. This is a temporary
measure and will discontinue as soon as the beta phase is completed. It should be noted
that the company that must eradicate the existing shortcomings in providing telephone
248 Imprisonment Code, Article 65.1.c).
249 Imprisonment Code, Article 6632.c).
114
HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CLOSED INSTITUTIONS
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