Reconstruction and rehabilitation works of the penitentiary establishment in Laituri, Ozurgeti district
started in July 2020, which is planned to be completed in the summer of 2022.168 According to the
summary report of the Special Penitentiary Service of 2020, Laituri Mixed Risk Penitentiary Establishment
will be the first prison in Georgia, which with its infrastructural capabilities will fully serve the purpose of
re-socialization-rehabilitation of prisoners. According to the same report, the implementation of
infrastructural projects is planned in the future, in particular, it is planned to build several new, small (600700 convicts) closed type penitentiary establishments in accordance with modern European standards,
which will create appropriate conditions for achieving the goal of re-socialization and rehabilitation and
building of which is already being finalized.
We believe that all measures should be taken to establish penitentiary establishments with small and
balanced infrastructure based on the principle of normalization,169 where the necessary environment for
the rehabilitation and re-socialization of prisoners will be provided. At the same time, it is important that
the Public Defender be given the opportunity to get acquainted with the concept of small institutions
prepared by the Ministry and to present the opinions on it.
2.7.2. Daily schedule and rehabilitation activities
During years in the penitentiary system170 rehabilitation-resocialisation of prisoners has been a challenge.
In 2020, compared to the previous year, re-socialization-rehabilitation activities in penitentiary institutions
were severely limited and the existing situation worsened.171
In 2020, the poor situation in terms of rehabilitation was caused by the introduction of extraordinary
conditions in penitentiary institutions due to the pandemic,172 within the framework of which, on March
30 of the same year, social workers and psychologists were taken out to the outer perimeter of the
facilities and they are still working from there, meeting the convicts beyond the glass barrier and
consulting them through the internal telephone of the facility.173 In the same period, rehabilitation
activities in penitentiary establishments were suspended. During visits to penitentiary facilities throughout
the year, inmates interviewed noted that meetings and consultations with social workers and
psychologists were extremally limited.
Summary Report on the Activities of the Special Penitentiary Service 2020 Page 5 https://bit.ly/3bKxLjR [Last visited:
03.02.21].
169In accordance with the principle of normalization, life in prison should be as close as possible to the positive aspects of
168
life in society, European Prison Rules, Part One, Principle 5.
170See
the 2019 report of the National Preventive Mechanism, which is available at the following address:
https://bit.ly/2NG6jvz, pp. 61-64, [last visited: 20.01.2021].
171See the follow-up report of the emergency monitoring visit to the Establishment N3, which is available at the following
address: https://bit.ly/3pVAvQn, p. 14–15. Also, a report on the follow-up emergency visit to the N17 penitentiary
establishment. Available at the following address: https://bit.ly/2ZUYTXY, p. 18, [Last visited: 20.01.2021].
172 By the order N4109 of March 5, 2020 of the Director General of the Special Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice
of Georgia, it was approved to introduce extraordinary conditions in penitentiary institutions.
173 Special Penitentiary Service response №300956/01 of December 21, 2020.
60
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents