Press Digest 02.05.2014

Inmates have to agree on their decision to go on a hunger strike with thieves? – Present situation in our prison facilities

"Recently, the instances of abusing inmates and subjecting them to inhuman treatment has become commonplace in our prisons; and this is a really alarming tendency as the overall situation in our penitentiary system can be defined as satisfactory after the Power changed hands in Georgia; torture as a systematic crime has been eliminated from prisons; however, a tendency that has recently occurred in prisons is really worth voicing concerns over; I mean that the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance, General Inspection as well as the Prosecutor’s Office has passed off all terrible instances of beating inmates and callously treating them as something unimportant. If this tendency is reinvigorated, our prisons will resemble an inferno again, “maintains Human Rights Head Aleko Tskitishvili in his interview with the Alia gazette.

“If those butchers who indulge themselves in directing their overwhelming aggression against the hapless inmates are not punished, the present government will soon be faced with Saakashvili’s Georgia. Concerning this, we would like to bring a concrete example – Several months ago, they beat inmate Amiran Patoev; when he was transferred to another prison facility, he was abused there again. Recently, Lika Khazbegi’s spouse, Genadi Jeladze, has also been insulted and beaten in the 17th prison facility. On top of that, when Mr. Jeladze informed his lawyer that he had announced a hunger strike, the representatives of the penitentiary system administration asked him whether he had cleared his decision with thieves,” maintains Aleko Tskhitishvili.

“This happenstance clearly shows that the prison administration and thieves are in cahoots with one another and are moved with common interests; thus we have faced the same unbearable situation we dealt with under Saakashvili. Intimidation of prisoners, thieves’ interference in their affairs, and their overarching influence on other prisoners is really alarming,” states the Human Rights Protection Center Head.

To the question whether we can conclude that the thieves have still presided over the penitentiary system in our day-to-day Georgia, the respondent answers:

“I do not really hold any kind of reliable information saying that thieves are as influential figures in prisons as they were in the past. Clearly though, if the practice of torturing prisoners is reinstated, if the instances of beating them becomes commonplace, soon we will be forced to face up to the extremely terrible situation in our prisons again.

“The Geguti Prison inmates have kept in touch with us by endowing us with detailed information regarding their conditions there; very often they complain regarding the cold-shouldered officials of the penitentiary system medical department that has refused to provide them with medicines and due assistance. Recently, a 25-year-old inmate, who wrote to us that callous treatment took a toll on his health, has passed away. A young man died due to the government’s refusal to adopt the necessary measures to save his life. By all odds, we have appealed to the General inspection as well as the Prosecutor’s Office to handle this issue; the investigation into the case has not moved thus far though,” concludes Aleko Tskhitishvili.