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President Boasts about Rapidly and Badly Constructed Prisons

June 8, 2010
Manon Bokuchava, Kvemo Kartli

New detention setting # 1 of general and strict regime was opened in Rustavi.  On June 1, the president Mikheil Saakashvili personally attended the opening ceremony and reminded the invited guests of the situation in old detention settings. “Here criminals ran everything. Inmates did not have food. Everything was sent from outside and the crimes in Georgia were planned from the prison. The prisoners estimated sums for the return of stolen cars; they planned attacks on businessmen. All in all, it was place for anti-sanitary, disorder and illegality in Georgia.”

Foreign guests and public defender of Georgia attended the opening ceremony. “This new detention setting will assist us to reduce number of inmates in overcrowded detention settings; thus the living conditions in the custodies will improve. Similar new institutions will change the situation for better. Unfortunately, we still have old buildings of prisons in the Western Georgia as well as Tbilisi Prison # 1 which shall be liquidated immediately,” said the Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Tughushi.

Although the improvement of the living conditions for prisoners is much spoken about, a woman from Rustavi, whose son has been in prison for three years already, said that she has sold everything valuable from home to assist her son in the prison. “I need at least one hundred lari per month to send to my son to buy food in the prison shop and to call me on the phone. They think the shops in the prisons are relief for us; but let them find out the prices of food in those shops,” said the parent of the prisoner.

The Human Rights Center really got interested in the prices at the shop in Rustavi prison # 1. The products did not have labels for prices on them but the shop-assistant claimed everything was much cheaper than in other shops.
     


After the president left the detention setting, we checked the prison once more. We saw the library where we found several dozen copies of one book.  We talked with the dentist of the prison who said that inmates can receive first medical treatment and have their teeth filled in; however, she does not use expensive materials for the tooth filling (it costs 20 GEL, approx. 10 Euro). We also examined the toilets of the new prison where we tried to check how the tank for cleaning the toilet worked; unfortunately, the tap went wrong when we touched it and we left the damaged detail on the place.

The construction of the institution had to be finished within 7 months. Minister of Penitentiary Khatuna Kalmakhelidze proudly stated that the new building was finished as a result of 24-hour work of builders and it did not influence the quality of the construction.

The minister added that soon one more detention setting will be opened in Rustavi for female prisoners.

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