On 3 April 2020, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) asked the Commissioner of Fundamental Rights (the Ombudsperson, being at the same time Hungary’s NPM) to 

• initiate legislation to decrease the overcrowding in penitentiary institutions, and to 

• investigate whether the fundamental rights of detainees and penitentiary staff members are respected in light of the special measures introduced due to COVID-19. 

On 27 April, the Ombudsperson informed the HHC that it had already launched an ex officio investigation into the situation in prisons in light of COVID-19. However, the Ombudsperson did not respond to the suggestion to initiate the decreasing of the number of detainees. 

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