You should complain locally first – to the Estonian authorities and courts. International and European institutions will not accept your claim if you have not first tried to complain to the local institutions. You can only go to international and European institutions if you think that the violation of your rights have not been remedied by Estonian institutions.

Prison staff and the head of your prison are responsible for the maintenance of good conditions and order at the prison. They are supervised by an institution called the Department of Prisons of the Ministry of Justice. The Internal Control Division of the Department of Prisons of the Ministry of Justice among all processes offences, exercising supervision over prisons and carrying out surveillance and criminal proceedings in prison as well as collection and analysis of information. Therefore, you can generally submit all complaints about the prison staff or fellow inmates to either the head of the prison or to the Department of Prisons of the Ministry of Justice. Read more about the general complaints procedure.

In some situations you have to submit your complaint to special institutions created for dealing with a specific type of claim, such as the investigation of crimes. Read more about these exceptions.