The Public Defender of Georgia publishes the report regarding the conditions in Penitentiary Establishment No 17, on the background of COVID-19
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, June 11
In regard to the Coronavirus pandemic, on April 30th, 2020, as well as on May 1st and 7th, the Public Defender and members of the Special Preventive Group paid a visit to Penitentiary Establishment No 17. As the monitoring revealed, the biggest challenge in terms of spreading COVID-19 is the size of the establishment and crowded cells.
According to the report published by the Public Defender, in the majority of the cells, inmates are not provided with 4 sq.m. of personal space as required by law.
“It is impossible to keep physical distancing or to properly protect sanitary conditions in the cells. Thus, in the context of the pandemic, it has become even more urgent to implement the recommendation made by the Public Defender years ago and endorsed by the Ministry of Justice on transformation of large institutions into small ones,” the statement reads.
The Public Defender pays attention to limiting the volume of medical services and diminishing the number of medical staff in the establishment, due to the introduction of special conditions and doubts that these circumstances might have a negative impact on timely and adequate provision of medical care.
The Ombudsman believes that the reduction of the number of prisoners in the establishment will ensure a higher degree of protection against the novel Coronavirus. In addition, according to the statement, further effective measures should be taken in order to control the infection in the establishments, which would help protect the rights of prisoners, reduce the workload of employees and facilitate the normal functioning of the establishment.
Based on the results of monitoring, in general, the Special Preventive Group positively estimates the cautious shown by the Special Penitentiary Service and the measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the fact that no cases of novel coronavirus have been detected, as well.
The Public Defender highlights the dedication of the employees, who have not left the facility in order to prevent the spread of the virus and continue to perform their duties under the conditions of complete isolation.
As the statement reads, the Public Defender's Office continued to monitor the closed institution during the crisis, by observing all safety measures, which has been praised in the textbook published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Association for the Prevention of Torture.
With the purpose of preventing the spread of the virus, special conditions were enforced in the penitentiary system since March 5th. Inmates are suspended from receiving visitors or leaving the penitential establishment due to particular personal circumstances.
