‌‌In order to assist the National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) in particular with their independent oversight in places of deprivation of liberty generally and prison establishments, the Human Rights Implementation Centre (Bristol, UK) and the Penal Reform International, South Caucasus Regional Office (Tbilisi, Georgia) with the financial support of the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account of the University of Bristol, have developed the set of monitoring tools to be used by the NPMs and other monitoring bodies during prison oversight. The tools are aimed at assisting the NPMs with their monitoring of four groups of prisoners : LGBTI prisoners, older prisoners, prisoners with disabilities and foreign national prisoners.

Each of the four tools contain a set of questions which are intended to serve as a sample template for the monitors; they include questions to be posed to the prison authorities, staff, prisoners and others that the monitors may deem appropriate. These questions also include questions that the monitors may wish to ask themselves as they tour the prison establishments and make their observations. These questions presume a sound knowledge of the requisite background international human rights standards on the part of the monitor who will ask them. It is hoped that with such a hands-on, practical approach the present tools will give concrete assistance to monitors, helping them to include the needs of these four groups of prisoners in their monitoring visits and then, in their on-going dialogue with the authorities.

The tools are currently available in four languages:

• English - Monitoring Tools.pdf (PDF, 643kB)
• русский - пособие по мониторингу.pdf (PDF, 606kB)
• Georgian (coming soon)
• Armenian (coming soon)