The approach under international human rights law should always be borne in mind according to
which the state is under an obligation to review periodically the need and proportionality of measures
applied to a convicted person for security measures. Under Rule 50.5 of the European Prison Rules,
“The level of security necessary shall be reviewed at regular intervals throughout a person’s
imprisonment.”
The Public Defender maintains the same position that appropriate legal safeguards should be
incorporated in domestic legislation in order to ensure that separated prisoners do not face such
conditions in isolation, which would subject them to distress or hardship of an intensity exceeding the
unavoidable level of suffering inherent in imprisonment and at the same time would undermine the
chances of rehabilitation.
2.3.8. PRISONERS’ REHABILITATION AND RESOCIALISATION
The activities carried out in penitentiary establishments in terms of rehabilitation and resocialisation
are sporadic and are not tailored to the individual needs of convicted persons. Individual sentence
planning is formalistic.77 Against the background where there is a shortage of social workers in terms
of numbers78 and qualifications79 (a social worker must have a bachelor's degree, master’s degree
/equivalent to master’s degree or doctorate in the field of social work or the certificate of a social worker
as stipulated by law), it is impossible to determine the individual needs of convicted persons.80
The CPT recommends that the Georgian authorities fully implement in practice the new provisions on
individual risk assessment and individual sentence plans in all prisons and in respect of all inmates. In
this context, particular attention should be paid to the procedural safeguards mentioned above and, in
the case of individual sentence plans, to involving (to the extent possible) prisoners in the drafting and
77
During 2018, examination of individual sentence planning showed that individual plans do not
comprehensively reflect the work conducted by specialists after the identification of a convicted person’s needs;
on a couple of occasions, the involvement of prisoners in activities (necessary response) are planned so that the
forms of risk and needs assessment does not show what needs have been identified; after the completion of
activities as stipulated in individual sentence plans, the achieved results are not assessed; the activities planned
according to identified needs are not sufficient.
78For instance, as of December 2018, there were 3 vacancies for social workers in establishment no. 16; 2 vacancies
for social workers in establishment no. 17; 3 vacancies for social workers in establishment no. 2; a vacancy for
the Head of Social Work Department and one vacancy for a social worker in penitentiary establishment no. 3.
79 The majority of social workers employed in penitentiary establishments do not comply with the requirements
under Article 42.1.c) of the Law of Georgia on Social Work.
80 From January 2018 to September 2018, (except for establishment no. 16) 621 individual sentence planning was
drafted. In the same period, no individual sentence planning has been drafted in establishments nos. 6 and 14.
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