Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions Human Rights in Bulgaria’s Closed Institutions Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, June 2006 This report has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Community. The views expressed herein are those of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. 1 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions 2 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions Table of contents Introduction 1. Prisons 1.1 Overview of the system and trends. Overcrowding. Inhuman conditions of detention 1.2 Disciplinary practices 1.3 Use of physical force and auxiliary means 1.4 Inter-prisoner violence 1.5 Opportunities for rehabilitation 1.6 Medical care 1.7 Supervision for legality 2. Remand Centers 2.1 Overview of the remand centre system 2.2 Material conditions 2.3 Use of physical force and auxiliary means 2.4 Contact with the outside world and correspondence 2. Supervision for legality 3. Police detention 3.1 Duration and registration of police detention 3.2 Cases of torture and other ill-treatment 3.3 Recent cases of death after use of force by police officers and their investigation 3.4 Notification of rights. Access to a lawyer. Access to an independent physician 3.5 Notification of third persons about the arrest 4. Psychiatric hospitals and dispensaries 4.1 Overview of the system and trends 4.2 Placement procedure of patients for compulsory and involuntary treatment 4.2.1 Placement for compulsory treatment 4.2.2 Placement for involuntary treatment 4.3 Material conditions 4.3.1 Buildings, sanitary facilities, hygiene 4.3.2 Nutrition 4.4 Death cases and their investigation 4.5 Seclusion and Restraint 4.6 Other patients’ rights 5. Social care homes for people with mental disabilities 5.1 General overview and trends 5.2 Placement 5.3 Declaration of incompetency 5.3.1 Definition, consequences and procedures 5.3.2 Procedure for the appointment of a guardian or trustee 5.4 Material conditions 3 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions 5.5 Mortality 5.6 Physical restraint measures and violence. Restraint and seclusion 5.6.1 Restraint 5.6.2 Seclusion 5.7 Rehabilitation, activities, occupational therapy, recreation 5.8 Inspections 6. Correctional schools 6.1 Placement 6.1.1 Legal Provisions for Placement Procedure 6.1.2 Criteria for placement in SBS and EBS 6.1.3 Placement practice 6.1.3.1 The placement practice under the new JDA procedure 6.1.3.2 Placements following the former JDA procedure and placement activities of the Local Commissions for Combating Juvenile Delinquency 6.1.3.3 Placement by the Local Commission for Combating Juvenile Delinquency instigated on the basis of social indications 6.2 Material conditions 6.2.1 Buildings, sanitary facilities, hygiene 6.2.2 Food 6.3 Education 6.4 Correctional and rehabilitative activities 6.5 Discipline, punishments and physical violence 6.6 Inspections 7. Summary, conclusions and recommendations 7.1 Ministry of Justice facilities 7.2 Ministry of Interior facilities 7.3 Ministry of Health facilities 7.4 Ministry of Labour and Social Policy facilities 7.5 Ministry of Education and Science facilities 4 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions List of abbreviations BHC Bulgarian Helsinki Committee BPA Bulgarian Psychiatric Association CEMC Center for Emergency Medical Care CMR Council of Ministers Resolution CPT Committee for the Prevention of Torture DC District Court EBS Educational Boarding School EBS Regulations Educational Boarding Schools Regulations ESA Enforcement of Sentences Act FES Fire and Emergency Safety GP General Practitioner HA Health Act HAD Homes for Adults with Dementia HCDPC Home for Children Deprived of Parental Care HDDA Homes for Developmentally Disabled Adults HDDCY Homes for developmentally disabled children and youths HEA Health Establishments Act HEI Hygiene and Epidemiology Inspectorate HMIA Homes for Mentally Ill Adults HPC Home for Pre-School Children (former term) ICPO Inspector of the Child Pedagogical Office IMA Interior Ministry Act IRNAC Implementing Regulations for the National Education Act JDA Juvenile Delinquency Act LCCJD Local Commission for Combating Juvenile Delinquency LEPC Labour Expert Physician Commission MH Ministry of Healthcare MES Ministry of Education and Science MLSP Ministry of Labour and Social Policy MPHAT Multi-profiled Hospitals for Active Treatment NHIF National Health Insurance Fund NFA National Framework Agreement PC Penal Code PFA Persons and Family Act PPC Penal Procedural Code PD Psychiatric Dispensary PHA Public Health Act RC Regional Court RESWA Regulations for the Enforcement of the Social Welfare Act RHC Regional Healthcare Center RHIF Regional Health Insurance Fund RICPH Regional Inspection for Control of Public Health RIE under MES Regional Inspectorate of Education under the Ministry of Education and Science RPHEIPC Rules of Procedure of Health Establishments for Inpatient Psychiatric Care 5 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions SAA Social Assistance Agency SACP State Agency for Child Protection SEBS Social Educational Boarding Schools SEBS Regulations Social Educational Boarding Schools Regulations SPH State Psychiatric Hospital SVTS Social Vocational Training Schools SWA Social Welfare Agency SWD Social Welfare Department 6 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions Introduction The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) is a non-governmental human rights advocacy organization, established in 1992. Since 1993 it is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. One of its activities includes monitoring and reporting on human rights in Bulgaria, as well as in other OSCE countries. BHC has been systematically monitoring closed institutions in Bulgaria since 1994. These include prisons, remand centers (investigation detention facilities), police establishments, detention facilities for illegal migrants, psychiatric hospitals, social care homes for mentally disabled, schools and other institutions for delinquent children. BHC arranged its possibilities and modalities to visit these institutions in different ways with different government ministries. Most often this was done on the basis of written agreements where the rights and obligations of both parties are spelled out in detail. Monitoring was carried out on the basis of a methodology that was worked out in advance and uses a variety of techniques from the social science research, including structured and unstructured observation, analysis of documents and conducting different types of surveys. As a rule, BHC prefers to work with the researchers that are staff members of the organization with years of experience in the field. Occasionally it hires researchers on ad hoc basis. BHC researchers are instructed how to follow the methodology and how to behave in different situations that might arise during visits, as well as subsequently. As a rule, observations were published in detailed reports. In addition to monitoring reports BHC produced several publications for use by the staff and by the inmates of the closed institutions. So far the organization has published 14 books with reports and other publications on different types of places for deprivation of liberty in Bulgaria.1 The present report summarizes the findings of the BHC on the human rights in the Bulgarian places for deprivation of liberty over a period of four years. Their focus is on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment. Other human rights however, such as the right to private and family life, liberty and security of the person, fair trial etc are too dealt with, especially when they give rise to inhuman and degrading treatment. The monitoring project was made possible by a grant of the European Commission. 1 The publications are available at the BHC web site: www.bghelsinki.org. 7 Human Rights in Bulgaria's Closed Institutions 1. Prisons 1.1 Overview of the system and trends. Overcrowding. Inhuman conditions of detention There are a total of 13 functioning prisons in Bulgaria, of which eight are for recidivists, three are for non-recidivists, one is for women and one is for juveniles. The prisons are complex institutions that have closed, open and transitional hostels in which the inmates serve their sentences under different types of regime. The number of the prisons and their hostels amounts to 37. The number of inmates in the prisons of Bulgaria is constantly on the rise over the last six years. The tends at the end of the respective years is as follows: Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Number of inmates 8971 9026 9422 10066 10871 11436 Thus the trend indicates an average 27% increase, with which the main indicator of the prison population in Bulgaria grew to 148 prison inmates per 100 000 population. Bulgaria has overtaken all West European countries in terms of this indicator, for example Germany (97), Spain (140), Italy (97), France (88), Portugal (123) and Austria (108).2 The increase in the number of prison population is in a marked contrast with the decrease in the rates of the street crime over the same period of time. According to several crime victimization surveys, as well as according to police statistics of registered offences the street crime decreased by more than 20% over the same period of time. At present Bulgaria’s level of street crime is lower than the average level of EU countries.3 The buildings of Bulgarian prisons are very old and run down. The Sofia prison was built 100 years ago. The main buildings of the prisons in Lovech, Pazardzhik, Vratsa, Stara Zagora, Varna and Burgas were built in the 1920s and 1930s, while the main buildings of the Bobovdol and Pleven prisons are former hostels converted to prisons. Inmates, not only in the hostel buildings, but also in all prisons, are accommodated in common rooms in contravention of U.N. Standard Minimum Roles for Treatment of Prisoners, which require individual accommodation to be the rule. At present there are no plans for conversion to smaller cells or individual accommodation, even in parts of the prisons.