Tbilisi: Rati Bregadze, the Minister of Justice congratulated the employees of the Special Penitentiary Service on their professional day. The twenty-one employees were also given a special award and certificate for their excellent services.
Minister Rati Bregadze thanked each employee of the penitentiary system for their work. According to the Minister of Justice the special penitentiary service plays a great role in ensuring the security, law and order of the state and the agency is successfully carrying out this responsible mission.
It is worth noting that employees’ salaries have increased by 118% in the last ten years. Moreover servants are provided with free meals and health insurance, safe transportation, modern sports fields, training spaces, and gyms. Retraining and qualification-raising programs are also being actively implemented.
Notably the minister of Justice also recalled the prison situation before 2012. According to him the time when prisoners were tortured in the penitentiary system is a thing of the past. Today, Georgian prisons are the best in Europe. According to Rati Bregadze one of the most accurate examples of the human face of the current government is the penitentiary institutions.
The Minister highlighted the significant progress in the penitentiary healthcare system, particularly in the fight against tuberculosis  which has been completely eradicated. The ministry has also successfully implemented the Hepatitis C elimination program. Furthermore, an innovative service, an online clinic, has been introduced, allowing prisoners to benefit from remote consultations with civil clinic specialists.
The infrastructure of penitentiary institutions has been improved with the assistance of the central government. Another prison has been opened in  Laituri  which fully complies with European standards and the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The construction of a small penitentiary institution is being completed in Rustavi.
A new penitentiary code was enacted, improving the working conditions of the special penitentiary service employees and the legal status of persons in penitentiary institutions. According to the Minister of Justice, each prisoner has already experienced the benefits of the new Penal Code.
