On May 8, the representatives of the
Department for Prevention of Torture and Ill-treatment (National Preventive
Mechanism) of the RA Human Rights Defender's Office made an unannounced
monitoring visit to Vardashen penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of
Justice.
Within the framework of the
monitoring, the status of ensuring the rights of persons deprived of their
liberty in the penitentiary institution, detention conditions and their
compliance with the required standards were examined.
The monitoring was conducted with
the participation of lawyers, doctors, and psychologist, using special
methodology and measuring devices (space, temperature, etc.).
During the visit, the detention
conditions of the persons deprived of liberty in the penitentiary institution
were examined in detail, including bathrooms and toilets, food, medical care
and service provision, number of medical staff and their working conditions,
issues related to prisoners' contact with outside world and re-socialization.
The following issue have been
recorded during the visit:
violations with regard to ensuring
personal space sufficient for persons deprived of their liberty, in particular,
in some cells, the requirement of 4 square meter area per person is not
maintained,
insufficient sanitary and hygienic
conditions;
insufficient conditions of the
building: there is a need for renovation,
the disciplinary cells and
quarantine department are not separated from each other, as well as the
sanitary and hygienic insufficient conditions in the mentioned cells were
recorded,
medical assistance to persons
deprived of their liberty is not properly ensured;
violations of maintenance of
medicine and medical privacy have been recorded,
the work of a psychologist is not
clearly organized, the practice of personal rehabilitation of prisoners is
unacceptable, there are only formal records and the psychologist does not have
the necessary professional tools,
foreigners deprived of their liberty
who do not know Armenian have communication difficulties, which hinders their
enjoyment of proper medical care and other rights due to the lack of knowledge
of that language by the penitentiary service staff,
there are no sufficient working
conditions for the staff of the penitentiary, including issues with regard to
the lack of office space in the penitentiary institution, or, if it is
available, there is a need of renovation, issues with the access to toilets, as
well as lack of professional training.
All the issues have been discussed with
the administration of the penitentiary. They will be summarized and submitted
to the competent authorities together with recommendations for their solution.
During the monitoring, no obstacles
were created for the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism.
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