stituted a problem in previous years. In his parliamentary report of 2014, the Public
Defender of Georgia issued a recommendation to the Minister of Corrections to prepare and introduce a new form for registering injuries, in accordance with the Istanbul
Protocol, in order to include more detailed information about bodily injuries. Besides,
he recommended intensive trainings about documentation of ill-treatment for medical
personnel of penitentiary establishments.
As regards fulfilment of these recommendations, according to the Ministry of Corrections of Georgia, the preparation of a new form for registering injuries is under way since
the second half of 2014, with the participation of forensic medical expert and support of
the Council of Europe. There are working meetings with the involvement of the Penitentiary Department, medical Department, Investigative Department, Training Centre, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs. Besides, throughout 2014, cascade trainings were conducted for the staff of the penitentiary system in
order to help them acquire knowledge and specific skills in this area.
The Public Defender welcomes the stand of the Ministry of Corrections as regards new
forms for documenting injuries of prisoners in penitentiary establishments. However, it
is worth noting that these forms of registering injuries are not yet used in penitentiary
establishments. The existing practice of describing injuries is still problematic and cannot
secure effective detection of alleged facts of ill-treatment. Besides, the checks of penitentiary establishments in the course of reporting period showed that bodily injuries of
prisoners are not adequately documented. Mostly, the origin of injuries is not specified.
There are traumas of unclear origin, questionable character and location. These are cases in which the prisoner does not explain the origin of the injury or declares that this is
an everyday life injury (e.g. inflicted as a result of falling off the bed), but its location and
character create doubts that the injury could be inflicted by another person.
If a prisoner says that it is an everyday life injury, the doctor should fully examine the
body in order to find other injuries and also check whether the report of the prisoner
about the origin of the injury is credible and whether there can be doubts about violence as a source of injury. The doctor should conclude, as a result of examination, if the
character and location of injury make ill-treatment as their cause probable.
When admitting the person at the closed institution, the medical examination should be
confidential. It is essential that the person is questioned about ill-treatment only by the
doctor, without presence of the staff of the given establishment.24
It has been established as a result of checks carried out in penitentiary establishments
in the reporting period that in most establishments, the representatives of the administration are present at medical examination of the newly admitted prisoners. It has
24 General Report No. 23 of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 2013, para. 75.
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015
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