Law on Prisoners Is to Be Changed

Changes in prisoner laws will be made by December 2006.  New legislation will cover only prisoners in pre-trial detention. One of the main changes concerns prisoners’ visitor policy.  Any individual will be allowed to visit a prisoner in pre-trial detention centers.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have demanded changes in laws concerning prisoners for some time and have made proposals [for such changes] to the [Georgian] Parliament.  NGOs were mainly concerned about recent laws restricting the number of visitors and packages for inmates. The NGO, Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, has organized several protests about [these laws].

According to Nana Kakabadze, “Most of the reforms made to the penal system worsened the condition of prisoners.  In accordance with the new laws, sending parcels [to prisoners] is restricted.  However, the contents of these parcels were mainly food, on which the prisoners were depending.  In most of the prisons, including Kutaisi Jail #2, Rustavi Jail #6, and Tbilisi Jail #7, only the sending of fruits and juices is now permitted.  Consequently, inmates are nearly starving.  In addition, long visits [by visitors] have been abolished and short visits and have been reduced.”

Local human rights NGOs have sent their complaints about these laws to the [Georgian] Parliament. Committees have discussed the proposals and added it to new legislation, which is [expected] to be approved in December 2006.

According to Elene Tevdoradze, head of the Human Rights Committee, “the changes only concern prisoners in pre-trial detention centers. After approving the new prisoner law, anyone will be allowed to visit a prisoner in jail.  According to existing law, only procurer or investigator is allowed to visit a prisoner. From now on, permission [from the procurer] will no longer be needed.”

The draft legislation was prepared by the Committee of Human Rights and Civil Integration, which plans on allowing two short visits [to prisoners] each month.

Levan Bezjashvili, the head of legislative committee, said about the draft legislation: “The main change is that relatives, family members, lawyers, and friends [will now be allowed] to visit individuals in pre-detention centers without special permission.  The number of visits will also increase, and the whole procedure will become easier.  [However,] I can not say what the exact number of short and long visits will be per month.”

Representatives of NGOs have not seen the entire draft legislation, but they already have several complaints.  One complaint concerns Article 89. Article 89 states, “A prisoner can be granted permission for a short visit according to the interests of the investigation… ”.  NGOs say that the word “can” in the article should be changed to “should” so as to avoid any misunderstandings by investigators or judges.

Nana Kakabadze says that NGOs have submitted several recommendations to the [Georgian] Parliament.  However, they do not know what was taken into consideration.  “Existing law lessens the rights of prisoners.  As for changes to this law, we don’t know yet what will be approved.  We have prepared several recommendations, though we still have not seen the final version of the legislation.”

Eka Gulua