News

13 February 2025

The Ombudsman institution has published the Twelfth Annual Report of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) on inspections of detention facilities in 2024.

Note: The NPM is a specialised directorate with the Ombudsman institution which monitors, inspects and assesses the observance of human rights in prisons and prison hostels, police detention facilities, state psychiatric hospitals, refugee accommodation centres and special centres for temporary accommodation of foreigners, 24-hour detention facilities with district police departments and family-type residential centres for children and adults.

The data in the report encompass the results of 53 inspections, 8 of which ad-hoc, based on specific complaints and ex officio actions, with a total of 16,220 persons covered by these inspections. 

The inspections were focus especially on the rights of people with mental illnesses accommodated in state psychiatric hospitals, mental health centres and social facilities for people with mental disorders. Once again, the report notes the lack of any positive change, whatsoever, in the attitude of the State towards the due care for the mentally ill in the country. The recommendations concern the degrading, nightmarish, at times horrific conditions of residence, treatment and work in psychiatric institutions, which are beyond any European standards.

Among the most important recommendations of the NPM is the one to the Ministry of Health to revise the regulation on the terms and procedure for implementing measures for temporary physical restraint of patients with mental disorders. The experts of the Ombudsman institution are adamant that a protocol (algorithm) is to be created for the application of the coercive measures of immobilisation (tying) and isolation, which will clearly indicate for how long and how often patients may be isolated and restrained for a period of 24 hours, as well as specify the grounds on which these measures are applied, so that there are no doubts or reasonable assumptions about their abuse.

Also important are the recommendations to the state authorities for regular and effective control; priority improvement of the quality of life of patients with mental illness and their socialisation by building appropriate services in the community; installation of fire alarm systems with central signalling in all psychiatric structures, etc.

The report pays special attention to yet another tragic case from August of last year when the NPM acted ex officio and carried out an inspection of the psychiatric clinic at St. Marina University Multi-Profile Hospital for Active Treatment in Varna. The reason was a burnt patient, with the measure of temporary physical restraint of immobilisation", i.e. tying, fixing.

                          Images of the burnt walls in the isolation room

This inspection also found significant violations of the requirements of Regulation No. 1 of 28 June 2005 on the terms and procedure for implementing measures for temporary physical restraint of patients with mental disorders, as well as non-compliance with the instructions of control authorities. The most significant of these are the lack of permanent monitoring of patients, the failure to register the temporary physical restraint measures, and the lack of a fire alarm system with a central signalling.

“Pursuant to the provisions of Article 11 of the Regulation and its paragraph 2, a patient who is subject to a temporary physical restraint measure shall be monitored continuously by the nurses designated by the doctor, who shall change every hour. The nurses monitor the patient by direct visual observation or by remote means during temporary isolation and at the patient’s bedside during temporary immobilisation. The failure to register measures of temporary physical restraint by isolation is a prerequisite for the application of this measure without medical justification and without following the procedure laid down for this, thereby violating patients’ rights. The lack of a fire alarm system with central signalling, despite instruction from the control authorities, is also among the reasons for the late detection of the fire. As early as 2019, the Ombudsman institution alerted the Minister of Health to the need to provide for a requirement to install smoke detectors as a quality criterion for healthcare, in order to improve the safety of patients with mental illnesses,” the NPM team emphasises.

Another focus of the Ombudsman’s activities as NPM for 2024 was the protection of the rights of asylum seekers in Bulgaria due to the fact that Bulgaria is an external border of the European Union, where traditionally migration pressure is increased.

The report data show that the total number of applications for protection submitted to the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) in 2024 was 12,250, in which 56 applicants were granted refugee status, 4,895 – humanitarian status, 3,140 – refused, and a total of 7,301 proceedings were terminated.

“The increase in the number of unaccompanied minors in the country remains alarming. According to the statistics of the SAR with the Council of Ministers, for the period 01.01.2024 - 31.12.2024, the total number of applications for protection submitted by unaccompanied minors is 2,601, of whom 234 are minors, 717 children are aged between 14-15 years, 1,650 children are aged between 16-17 years. The greatest number of applications comes from citizens of countries with military conflicts such as Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt and Iraq,” the report notes.

The Ombudsman institution reports progress in the protection of the rights of unaccompanied children with the implementation of the recommendation repeatedly made by the NPM over the years to create a safe zone for these children, which became a fact on 16 May last year in the largest registration and reception centre in Harmanli with a capacity of 98 places and the possibility to increase it in the event of a crisis.

Despite the progress, however, problems remain – with hygiene and sanitation, with the access to specialised health care, with the need to provide better security.

The Annual Report of the Ombudsman traditionally also focuses on the detention facilities at the Ministry of Justice. In 2024, inspections were carried out in 5 prisons, 7 prison hostels and 8 police detention facilities. It was those inspections that covered the largest number of people inspected – a total of 1,409 prisoners and detainees in the facilities at the time of inspection. The NPM found that a number of problems persisted in the penitentiary system, among which the most significant remained the poor material and living conditions with obsolete building stock, the presence of cockroaches, bedbugs and other pests, difficult access to medical care and a shortage of medicines, complaints of ill-treatment, violence and lack of assistance from the prison administration, as well as a lack of budgetary funding for social activities, which significantly hindered the re-socialisation and reintegration of persons deprived of liberty.

    Photos from the canteen of Pazardzhik Prison           Photos of a person bitten by bedbugs

                                                                       in the detention facilities in Sofia,  

                                                                                    Dr. G. M. Dimitrov Boulevard       

Another focus of the NPM’s activities in 2024 was the protection of the rights of persons in the 24-hour detention facilities of the Ministry of Interior. Last year, teams of the Ombudsman institution carried out inspections in the detention facilities of 5 district police departments. It was found that the material and living conditions in detention facilities continued to be unsatisfactory, with poor access to natural daylight and obsolete facilities. The accommodation facilities also needed major renovation as well as expansion of their capacity due to the high workload.

The report notes that the Ministry of Interior has implemented the Ombudsman’s recommendation that when a detainee is a minor, they must be represented by a lawyer.

In 2024, the NPM reported that it acted ex officio in 4 cases of police violence, attempts at suicide and escape from the detention facilities of the Ministry of Interior, and that it made specific recommendations to the Minister of Interior.

“A particularly disturbing case from the beginning of the year was in connection with a person detained by officers of the Stara Zagora Regional Police Department who died in custody as a result of excessive use of physical force. In a letter to the then caretaker Minister of Interior, the Ombudsman emphasised that the use of physical force and auxiliary means by police officers is a measure of last resort to be applied only when absolutely necessary and insisted on a full, comprehensive and objective investigation of the case. In a reply to the Ombudsman institution, the Ministry of Interior stated that a number of shortcomings and deficiencies had been identified on the part of MoI officers in finding and detaining the person. Two officers were imposed the penalty of dismissal on account of the breaches found in the performance of their duties,” the NPM report also notes.