Justice Minister: new penitentiary code “one of great achievements of modern Georgia”

Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday told Imedi TV the implementation of the new penitentiary code was “one of the great achievements of modern Georgia”.

Bregadze said “all relevant agencies” and the non-governmental sector had been involved in the development of the draft for the code, with “over 90 percent” of recommendations in feedback “fully considered”.

The standard of legal protection of convicts is increasing. At the same time, our honoured employees will have better working conditions and more social security”, he said.

The Minister noted standards of conditions of those charged were increasing and becoming equal to the circumstances of offenders. He also noted his office’s preliminary data had received “excellent reviews” from “many of our colleagues”.

Bregadze added the experiences of inmates, their family members, relatives and penitentiary system employees would be an “ideal way” to assess the effectiveness of the code.