possibility to defer their situation to international organizations, request to estimate actions of the prison administration, and notify about poor conditions of imprisonment and violations of law by jails’ officers. ICHR assembled a report “Analysis of Situation in Estonian Prisons” in December 2010 (http://www.lichr.ee/home/wpcontent/uploads/2014/05/Estonian-prisons-final.pdf). Situation with the cruel treatment is Estonian jails is still acute. Concern and disturbance is caused by signals coming from prisons and evidencing racism, xenophobia and other types of discrimination, as well as engraining of racial stereotypes mainly as to persons of non-Estonian origin who belong to national minorities. In accordance with the official data, Russians and Russian speakers constitute 2/3 of prisoners in Estonian jails while they constitute only around 1/3 of the country’s population. In April 2013 ICHR availed itself of the opportunity to submit its Observations in relation to the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture by Estonia (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/ngos/LICHR_Estonia_CAT50.pdf). ICHR’s remarks dealt with the following: investigation of complaints as to police violence in April 2007; use of special security equipment in prisons; use of Russian for communication with prison staff and “labeling” of prisoners on the grounds of their Estonian language proficiency. The UN Committee Against Torture adopted its Concluding observations on the 5th periodic report of Estonia on May 30, 2013 (http://www.refworld.org/docid/51dfe0564.html). The Committee is concerned that prisoners’ name badges include information about their proficiency in the Estonian language (letters “A”, “B” and “C”). The Committee recommended Estonia to put an end to any discrimination against prisoners on the basis of their proficiency in the Estonian language and ensure that prisoners are not penalized with regard to administrative or disciplinary matters if they do not have a sufficient understanding of the language. Translation services should be provided for prisoners with an insufficient knowledge of the Estonian language. This “labeling” is perceived by many of the prisoners as discriminatory and humiliating. Now UN Committee Against Torture is unequivocally condemning about this practice and urge to stop the unfair treatment of prisoners on the basis of their native language or skills to learn languages. Nevertheless the labeling continues. Lack of opportunity for prisoners to influence their individual rehabilitation plans is another particular concern. Notably, plans include mandatory Estonian classes at intermediate level regardless of the fact that prisoner’s command of language is much higher. The document also points out that definition of torture in Estonian Criminal Law is restrictive and does not include the infliction of mental pain. The penalty for acts of torture in Estonia is up to five years of imprisonment, which in the opinion of the Committee is not commensurate with the grave nature of the crime.