2.6.3. PRISONERS SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT Individuals sentenced to life imprisonment belong to a particularly vulnerable group of prisoners. Therefore, their treatment should promote their dignity and strengthen a sense of responsibility. 217 The Public Defender in his reports has repeatedly underlined that existing conditions within the penitentiary institutions do not ensure their adequate resocialisation and reintegration into the wider community. Life sentenced prisoners are placed in the establishments N3, N6, N7 and N8 of the penitentiary department. During the reporting period, positively should be assessed the pardoning of 3 female convicts by the President, who were sentenced for life imprisonment. According to the recommendation of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, the prison administration should seek to ensure that prisoners are explained the prison rules and routine and their rights and responsibilities, including the right to make personal choices in as many of the affairs of daily prison life as possible. In addition, life sentenced prisoners should be offered adequate material conditions and opportunities for physical, intellectual and emotional stimulation and have a maximum contact with the outside world.218 It is noteworthy that in the penitentiary institution where the persons sentenced to life imprisonment are placed, diverse and systematic rehabilitational activities are not carried out. During the reporting period, in the establishment N7, not a single rehabilitation programme was implemented. In the establishment N6 one checkers tournament took place. Besides, the inmates sentenced to life imprisonment are not given the possibility of employment. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in the report of 2015 focuses on the importance of employment and different activities in order to support the physical and mental health of the imprisoned individulas, especially the ones who are sentenced to life imprisonment.219 It is worth noting that a long term imprisonment, and in particular the life sentence, is unlikely to achieve its objectives unless adequate measures are undertaken to ensure the transition of convicts to the major directions and steps of social life.220 It should be 217 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, rules 65 and 66. 218 Management by Prison Administrations of Life-sentence and Other Long-term Prisoners, Recommendation REC (2003) 23 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 9 October 2003, Para. 21-25. 219 The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report on the Visit to Georgia, 6 November 2015, A/HRC/31/57/Add.3. 220 The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1992/1 of 6 February decided to dissolve the committee on crime prevention and control and to establish the Commission on Crime prevention and criminal justice as a functional commission of the Council, as requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 46/152 of 18th December 1991. The commission held its first session from 21 to 30 April 1992. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015 141