2. Work of the Human Rights Ombudsman in 1998

We believe that the protection of persons deprived of their liberty from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment can be effectively strengthened by preventive remedies based on visits. We therefore continued our visits to Slovene prisons in 1998. We carried out detailed inspections of the prisons at Ljubljana and Dob and of the Radovljica and Rogoza facilities of these prisons. Special attention was devoted to the visit to the Correctional Home for Juveniles at Radeče. After each visit we compiled a special report containing our findings, opinions, proposals and recommendations for improving conditions. Additionally we visited Ljubljana Prison a further seven times, Maribor Prison three times, Celje Prison twice, Ig Prison once and Dob Prison twice. During these visits we spoke to convicts serving prison sentences, remand detainees and inmates who wished to talk to us. In 1998 we conducted a total of 161 conversations with detained persons, of whom 100 were convicts, 56 remand detainees and 5 inmates at Radeče. The picture of the work of the Human Rights Ombudsman in this field would be incomplete were we not to mention that in 1998 we received (and processed) 132 applications from convicts (an increase of 188 per cent over 1997) and 51 applications from remand detainees. Thus in 1998 as many as 344 detained persons from all over Slovenia appealed in one way or another to the Human Rights Ombudsman.