Public defender office and special penitentiary services held a working meeting on prison reforms

Tbilisi: The office of the Public Defender of Georgia and the representative of the special penitentiary services held another working meeting on July 9 to discuss the challenges in the functioning of the judicial process and prison reforms.

During the working meeting  the Special Penitentiary Service shared information about ongoing projects and positive news in the system with the Office of the Public Defender. Both agencies also discussed a number of important issues related to security and order in the penitentiary system, gaps in the process of determining the risk of danger for convicts, conditions and infrastructural challenges of penitentiary institutions  and the strategy of dividing into small institutions and creating a balanced infrastructure.

They also discuss measures for maintaining an electronic surveillance system, rehabilitation and resocialization programs for prisoners, strengthening the psychosocial component, the need to place prisoners in penitentiary institutions close to their families, ensuring the legal status of prisoners transferred to civil clinics for a long period of time  and many other  others.

The agencies will continue to cooperate in the future to improve the legal status of prisoners. The Office of the Public Defender will continue to actively supervise the protection of the rights of accused and convicted persons. The meeting was held within the framework of the European Union project Support to the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia.

Georgia and the other law enforcement agencies have been working to improve the prison system in the country. They are also collaboratively working in this direction with the involvement of the other state agencies.   According to legal experts the prison system must be improved throughout the country. We live in a system where reform of society is considered the best way forward for the welfare of prisoners. The best prison system is the first condition for improving prisoners’ lives.

The main objective of the legal systems of various countries is to bring criminals back into the mainstream so that they can live better lives.