Georgian prisons 5th lowest in mortality rates of 47 Council of Europe states
Tweet 
Share
The latest Council of Europe survey for mortality rates amongst inmates ranks Georgia as the fifth lowest.
The report, which includes data through 2016, shows that Georgia comes in fifth after Finland, Iceland, Monaco and San Marino, with 12 deaths in 2015, including two cases of suicide.
The survey contains information from 47 out of 52 prison administrations in the 47 Council of Europe member states.
The survey reports that the total number of releases in Georgia in 2015 was 7,954, which is significantly higher in comparison to the European median. However, the incarceration rate in Georgia was among some of the highest in the surveyed countries, with about 246.3 individuals serving time per 100,000 inhabitants. The European median is about 117.1.
Take a look at the infographics made by Agenda.ge team, showing Georgia's amnesty and prisoner’s number and other prison data in 2012-2013.
Georgia’s Acting Minister of Corrections Kakha Kakhishvili told Parliament that the Ministry of Corrections planned to build a new prison for young offenders aged 14-21 years, through the recommendation and support of the European Union (EU).
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.
Life imprisonment for juveniles is now prohibited in Georgia. The country has a new Juvenile Justice Code that meets international standards.
All criminal cases in Georgia involving minors will soon be handled by police officers, investigators, prosecutors and judges who specialise in juvenile offending.
The Council of Europe (CoE) has released a report about the 10-year trend in European prisons, which provides the findings about Georgian prisons between 2005 and 2015.
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.
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.
"I can definitely say it is wrong that criminals run prisons. Prisons are run by the government. There are cases when one prisoner tries to oppress another and the state is doing its utmost to prevent or react to such incidents. I believe that the problem has been seen differently [by the ombudsperson],” Tsulukiani said.
Georgia has one of the highest incarceration rates in Europe, show annual statistics on prisons by the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe’s new annual prison statistics report released earlier today says that Georgia is the third among the countries with the highest incarceration rates in Europe following Turkey and Russia.
Two inmates have died in a fire in Rustavi Prison No.17 yesterday, the Georgian Justice Ministry confirmed earlier today. The fire broke out at around 14:00 yesterday allegedly in the prison cafeteria. Six fire brigades with 11 fire engines were trying to extinguish the fire. It has not been reported so far what caused the death of the inmates - thermal burns of smoke.