Right to communicate
Whilst in prison, you should be able to maintain relationships with your family and other persons as normally as possible. This includes your right to meet them in person at least twice per month. During visits, you can receive food and other allowed items.
Frequency and duration of visits
In Bulgaria, there are two types of prison visits that you can have with the members of your family and other persons– short visits (up to 40 minutes) and long visits (up to 4 hours).
You are entitled to at least two 40-minute visits per month. Depending on the type of prison (closed type or open type), prison visits take place with or without a separating glass partition. In closed-type prison facilities and arrests prisoners and visitors are as a rule separated by a glass partition and physical contact between them is prohibited. In open-type prison facilities, female prisons and reformatory homes for juveniles, visiting premises are not equipped with glass partition and physical contact during visits is allowed.
You are not entitled to extended visits– they are given as awards by the head of the prison. Physical contact during 4-hour visits is allowed.
If you are under 18, you should be allowed to carry out 90-minute visits without restrictions in their frequency.
If you are in an investigative prison awaiting your trial, you are allowed to meet with your family, other relatives or persons at least twice a month for at least 40 minutes. However, extended visits are not allowed in an investigative prison.
Restrictions and monitoring
Every restriction (such as, the number of visits, the duration of visits or the methods of supervision) must be as permitted under the law, well-grounded and limited in time.
Bulgarian law allows restrictions on visits in prisons, but only for security reasons or as a disciplinary punishment. An individual decision regarding a restriction must be recorded. The need for restrictions should be well-reasoned, individually assessed and specific to your case.
Under Bulgarian law, the head of the prison may ban you from having visits with certain persons for a maximum period of six month, if he/ she considers that the communication with these persons has negative impact on your rehabilitation. Restrictions on the right to visits of remand prisoners are imposed by the prosecutor or the court, depending on the phase of the criminal proceedings.
important The prison administration cannot prevent you from seeing your family.
Visits take place under the supervision of a warden.
What human rights violation may there be?
If your visits are unlawfully restricted and monitored, namely, in situations that are not allowed by law, where restrictions are unnecessary or too strict for your case, this may result in the violation of your privacy and family life.
If the head of your prison has denied you a visit or applied unlawful monitoring methods, you should complain to the Director of the Bulgarian Prison Administration or to the Administrative court. Read more about how to complain.