time, increasing prisoners’ educational and employment opportunities84 is noteworthy. Despite the positive changes made in 2018,85 out of 15 penitentiary establishments, a workshop is functioning only in four penitentiary establishments (nos. 5, 14, 15, and 16).86 Work is not perceived as a positive aspect of the prison regime in a penitentiary establishment. The prisoners doing household services still have to do the jobs87 that are less likely to develop or maintain the skills that would enable them to sustain themselves after release. Moreover, doing such work is associated with a strong stigma. Unfortunately, there is a situation in penitentiary establishments where prisoners responsible for household chores and doing cleaning jobs are stigmatized, isolated from the prison life and marginalised. At the same time, there is a high risk of violence against them. There is an impression that prison officers take into account the informal prison rule and thus condone the existing situation.88 It should be noted that social workers and psychologists working in penitentiary establishments do not have an appropriate workspace to work with convicted persons in a peaceful and therapeutic environment. Prisoners’ participation in rehabilitation activities is also obstructed by factors such as the criminal underworld and absence of motivation among prisoners. The reasons behind the refusal to be involved in rehabilitation programmes are due to informal rules and being under the influence of other prisoners as participation in such programmes is unacceptable for a certain group of prisoners. Therefore, it is important to identify such convicted persons, assess their risks and needs and provide individual consultation for them. Besides, it is important that social workers actively cooperated with prisoners to encourage and motivate them to take part in various activities. The best motivator for prisoners would be offering activities that would influence the reduction of the rest of the sentence89 or commuting sentence. 2.3.9. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Despite the planned renovation works,90 similar to previous years, in 2018 too sanitation and hygiene in cells were problematic in penitentiary establishments nos. 2, 8, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 19. There are 84 These are the following employment opportunities in penitentiary establishments: 1) employment on the premises of the establishment or outside; 2) employment in workshops; and 3) enrolment in household services. 85 Greenhouse farming and cotton processing workshops with respective equipment were arranged in penitentiary establishment no. 5. 86 The United Report of 31 December 2018 on the Statistics in the Special Penitentiary Office of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, available at: https://goo.gl/EF9LCV, (accessed 18.02.19). 87 For instance, distribution of food for prisoners, washing, bringing food and other items from the shop located on the establishment’s premises, cleaning, etc. 88 For more details, see the 2016 parliamentary report of the Public Defender of Georgia, pp. 229 -233. 89 The initiative voiced by the Minister of Corrections and Probation in 2017 is noteworthy in this regard, namely, implying that from 2018, the ministry would start working on introducing a new mechanism under which a convicted person working within a penitentiary establishment would have his/her sentence reduced according to the working days. 90 Works accomplished to avoid deterioration caused by wear to the infrastructure. 37