The messenger logo

MCLA plans to improve prison conditions in 2012

By Salome Modebadze
Wednesday, January 4
The Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia (MCLA) shared information about their priorities for 2012. A 4,000-person penitentiary establishment in Daba Laituri, in the Ozurgeti region, will be reconstructed along with five similar facilities in Batumi, Khoni, Zugdidi and two establishments in Tbilisi. According to the MCLA’s information around 1,000 people will be employed by the ongoing constructions, while 500 people will get jobs after the building activities are over and the penitentiary establishment starts operating. This would, according to the Ministry, improve the infrastructure and living conditions of detainees in the penitentiary system.

Introduction of the project “Without Bars” aimed at employing detainees in special places as well as the establishment of public receptions at corrective facilities are also among the priorities of the MCLA for 2012. Such a reception would simplify procedures, enable qualified consultations and offer all the necessary services in one comfortable environment.

Planning to implement additional services in the system the detainees and their visitors would have access to free banking services, free internet, a children’s corner, information desk, free legal consultations etc. In order to develop additional infrastructure the MCLA will also build healthcare facilities, libraries and professional educational centres for the detainees, as well as a child friendly environment where juvenile convicts would get proper education in age-appropriate surroundings.

Penitential healthcare remains among the MCLA’s priorities for 2012 together with the development of internet technologies. Creation of a joint database for convicts and probationers, establishment of a video-connection with the court and introduction of electronic medical cards are also planned for the penitentiary system in 2012. The Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance has worked out priorities in the direction of probation as well. An efficient control mechanism, space for intense rehabilitation, individual approach towards the probationers and definition of risks are all among the issues which MCLA plans to ensure.