Democracy Index - Georgia Calls on Parliament to Take Specific Actions to Address the Problems in Prisons

The Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration of the Parliament of Georgia randomly reviewed the Public Defender's report concerning the problems in prisons. During the discussion, the Committee wandered away from the key issues and focused on irrelevant matters.

On 10 December 2019, the Public Defender of Georgia published the special report on the monitoring visits to penitentiary facilities №2, №4, №8 and №15, which contains alarming information regarding the informal rule in prisons. The report elaborates on the so-called “watchers” (criminal underworld) in prisons who treat inmates with violence and whose power equals the informal governance in prison.

Despite the gravity of the issue, the Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration did not exercise its authority for more than a month after the publication of the report to invite the Public Defender and hear her within the committee format.

Hearing of the report by the Committee was made possible only at the request of the Public Defender on 21 January 2020, during which the Minister of Justice submitted a counter-report on her part.

The report presented by the Minister of Justice in response to the Ombudsman's conclusions was off-topic, largely averting the pressing issues raised in the Ombudsman's report and focused on entirely irrelevant issues, mostly to discredit the Public Defender’s conclusions.

For its part, the Committee on Human Rights as well randomly reviewed the problems in prisons without going deeper into details at a committee session:

• MPs did not ask her critical questions about the alarming issues highlighted in the report;
• MPs mostly challenged the credibility of the Public Defender's report instead of questioning the Minister of Justice about the problems highlighted in the report;
• The Committee Chairperson and MPs, without further scrutiny, denied the existence of the problems, relying solely on their personal experience, while the Ombudsman's report was based on the results of interviews with more than 800 inmates and visits to the penitentiary facilities;
• Parliament inadequately reacts to the challenges that fall within its constitutional obligation. This leads to undermining public confidence and promoting the ineffective rule of executive authorities.

We urge the Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration to:

• Effectively execute its powers at the final stage and specify in the Committee’s report a list of responsible agencies and actions that are required to take in order to address the issues presented in the Ombudsman's report.

We call on Parliament of Georgia to:

• On the basis of the above-mentioned report of the Committee, adopt a parliamentary resolution ordering the responsible authorities to take specific actions.