The present report provides information about the progress of fulfillment of the recommendations set forth in the Public Defender’s special report on the conditions of persons with disabilities in prisons, institutions of involuntary and forced psychiatric treatment and temporary detention isolators.1 To evaluate the process of fulfilling recommendations, a repeated (follow-up) visit was undertaken to Prisons N2 and N3, Medical Facility for Remand Prisoners/Convicts, of the Penitentiary Department and Academician B. Naneishvili National Center for Mental Health (hereinafter “the National Center for Mental Health”) with financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation on 4-12 December, 2014.

In the Medical Facility f, as well as in the National Center for Mental Health, there was no significant progress in regards to fulfilling recommendations, despite some positive changes, as it was found out during the repeated (follow-up) visits to these institutions. It is alarming that there is a whole range of recommendations where no measures were taken.

It is noteworthy that there is no established criterion to identify disabled prisoners in prisons. Due to this, the personnel of the facilities are not able to process comprehensive statistical data on the patients with disabilities, and moreover, this fact raises doubts about the accuracy of processed statistical data.

However, as it is stated above, the Government of Georgia made a significant step towards fulfilling the recommendation through the approval of the Strategy of the Development of Mental Health and Action Plan for 2015-2020.