Press Parcels Prohibited to Be Delivered to Prisoners

For last several months sending in press parcels to the prisoners in Georgian Penitentiary has been prohibited non-officially. Information was confirmed by the head of Prevention and Monitoring Service of Ombudsman of Georgia Natia Imnadze.

“As we know, press deliverance is prohibited in everywhere. Most of the newspapers in the stores of Penitentiary Departments are not sold except for Kviris Palitra and sports magazines. Sometimes, they say that it is possible to send it in through post but we do not have any concrete examples when someone receives newspapers by post. That is why we cannot say that it is possible to send in newspapers through post,” – Natia Imnadze stated to Netgazeti.

According to her, non-official prohibition of press started for last several months. The head of Prevention and Monitoring Service of Ombudsman states that press deliverance was restricted in several departments earlier as well; however it was not a full prohibition. But now, the prohibition has taken force, though non-officially since among the allowed and prohibited items determined according to the relevant order, the press is absent.

“Law envisages accessibility of press and therefore this is illegal,” – Natia Imnadze stated to Netgazeti. According to her, this problem was noted in 2011 Ombudsman report as well. However, it talked about single, separate cases of this problem.

“Now many convicts confirm this and we see it ourselves that majority of newspapers are not delivered in the prisons. Accordingly, we will make a recommendation. We are working on a report and it will reflect these issues,” – Natia Imnadze states.