The activity of the Prison Service from the perspective of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights

Abstract

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights as National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has been investigating the treatment of detainees in different places of detention since 2015. The NPM summarizes in reports the experiences of the visits which are based on interviews with detainees and staff members of the places of detention, requested documentation and site inspections. The NPM formulates recommendations to remedy the improprieties related to fundamental rights. The study presents the competence and the visiting methodology of the NPM, as well as the focal points of the visits. The visiting of places of detention, thereby the prevention of ill-treatment, could not be suspended because of COVID-19, so the NPM has carried on visiting places of detention during the coronavirus-disease. The article demonstrates the international standards serving as the basis of the preparation of these visits. The author summarizes the experience of the visits to national penitentiary institutions during the pandemic and the activities of the prisons in connection with the prevention of the coronavirus-disease.