2013 in prison: Corrections Ministry sums up the year

Making the penitential system more human and keeping it in order using non-violent ways. These were the main promises from the government, which, in fact, are achieved, according to the Georgian Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance Sozar Subari.

Subari, together with his Deputy Archil Talakvadze, summed up the work done by the Ministry in the past year, at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on December 18.

 Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia Sozar Subari; Photo from the Ministry's website

Mass Amnesty

Reducing the number of prisoners was named as one of the key achievements by the Ministry in 2013. As a result of the Mass Amnesty, a total number of inmates in prison decreased to 9,011, while the same index in 2012 was 24,312.

More than 17,000 people got their suspended sentences removed this year. 14 people were released from detention and had to do a community service, instead. And 11 more people were allowed to leave prison because of complicated health conditions (which has never happened before, according to Subari).

These trends were positively assessed by Human Rights Defender, EU representative to Georgia Thomas Hammarberg. "The overcrowding in prisons has grown down. Fewer people are in prison now than before, which is positive, Hammarberg said earlier this month, expressing his hopes that the treatment of those who are in prison would be more liberal too.

 Gldani #8 prison; Photo by AFP

Penitentiary healthcare

The budget for the penitentiary healthcare service has been increased by 42% and reached 112 million in 2013.

"As the number of prisoners has decreased and the budget increased, the amount of money for medical treatment for each inmate is very much higher now, Subari said, providing the statistics of last several years.

In 2000, the money spent on medical treatment for per prisoner was 144 USD. In 2012, this index was 181 USD, while in 2013 it grew up to 760 USD.

The Deputy Minister Archil Talakvadze who is Head of the Medical Department, had to answer the complaints about a lack of medicines in prison. Talakvadze said that the Ministry provides the inmates with all needed medicines and this list is much longer than the World Health Organization list of essential medicines.

Minister Subari said that the prisoners ask for psychotropic drugs without any medical perscription and once they do not get them, they start complaining about a lack of medicines.

"You can name no particular prisoner who does not receive a medicine if it is recommended for them by a doctor. If you can, do it, and we will go to visit them together, Sozar Subari addressed to journalists.

A total of 5,500 prisoners were transferred to civil hospitals this year. Tuberculosis is treated in prison with exactly the same medicines as it is outside. "Our goal is for the prison healthcare to meet the standards of a civil health sector, the Deputy Corrections Minister said.

 Photo by AFP

Death rate

Two prisoners committed suicide in penitential institutions last week. Despite this "tragic fact, the death rate is still lower in 2013, than it was before, according to Subari.

61 inmates died in prison in 2011. In 2012, this number was 50, while the same index decreased to 22 in 2013.

In the regard to death in prison, the main complaint against the Ministry in the past year was that they tried to hide these facts.

"We do not hide them. We just have no right to announce it. We cannot say the name of a dead prisoner, because it is not ethical. Now imagine if we do not say a name, the families of other prisoners in the same penitential institution will panic. That is exactly why we keep silence for a day or two, until the family is informed about the fact, Minister Sozar Subari said.

New projects

Two more types of prison, high risk and low risk are scheduled to be added to already existing closed-type and semi-open type penitential institutions. In a low risk institution, prisoners will be able to study or work and get salaries.

24 already existing prison buildings are being renovated in accordance of the Western standards, Subari said. In a semi-open style institutions, where prisons can be walking outside of the building all day long, a standard space for per inmate will be no less than 4 square meter. As for the closed-type prisons where prisoners only have an hour for an outside walk, a space will define as 7 square meter for each there.

 The Ministry plans to change the prison menu for 2014. Meat and milk-product rations are planned to be increased by 50%.