Proposed bill would allow prisoners to study for Master’s degree
If the bill is approved by 76 MPs at least, prisoners will be able to study MA programmes. Photo: Shutterstock.
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A bill presented by the Georgian Dream ruling party MPs allows inmates to receive a Master’s degree while in prison as the current law regulates the conditions and procedures only for Bachelor’s degree.
The current law, with the involvement of the Ministry of Education and Justice, offers procedures and conditions only for the Bachelor’s degree for inmates. There are no rules for a Master’s degree,” says the bill.
The bill reads that the Parliament’s Education Committee had received a letter from an inmate of the #16 prison, “who successfully passed exams for his MA degree earlier in 2019 and was unable to study due to the legal barrier.”
Mariam Jashi, Siphio Kiladze and Tamar Khulordava are the authors of the bill which will be presented in parliament later today.
The statistics of 2008 read 445 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants in Georgia, while the figure was 252 per 100,000 in 2018. CoE says that the number of inmates in the Georgian prisons was increasing until 2012 [under the United National Movement], with 516 inmates per 1000,000 in 2012.
The latest Council of Europe survey for mortality rates amongst inmates ranks Georgia as the fifth lowest.
The Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani has evaluated the outcomes of a rehabilitation program initiated by her five years ago, titled Rehabilitation and Resocialization Program for Former Prisoners.
How do authorities supervise inmates on home detention?
Today a group of diplomatic corps and media representatives saw first-hand how the Ministry remotely controlled juvenile inmates from the newly established Electric Monitoring Centre of the National Probation Agency.
Georgia has one of the highest incarceration rates in Europe, show annual statistics on prisons by the Council of Europe.
A total of 24 inmates have registered for the country’s university entrance exams this year, says the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the situation in Georgian prisons is ‘exemplary’ and that the Georgian Dream government put an end to torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners as soon as they took office back in 2012.
Fully vaccinated convicts or suspects will be allowed to use the right to long visits starting September 27, the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia stated earlier today.
Convicts and defendants in Georgia will be able to study remotely at authorised universities in the country, the Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday.
Convicts and employees of the Penitentiary Institution No.16 in the city of Rustavi received diplomas for successfully passing an international examination in French language following a course taught by a prisoner, the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia said on Monday.
Convicts and employees of penitentiary institutions across Georgia will receive public services at their facilities in a project promoted as a “Georgian innovation” by the Justice Ministry.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Monday unveiled a new “small-sized, highest European-standard” penitentiary facility designed for 700 convicts in the western Georgian town of Laituri in Guria region.