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Undue Punishment RIGHTS Abuses Against Prisoners in Georgia WATCH September 2006 Volume 18, No

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Undue Punishment RIGHTS Abuses Against Prisoners in Georgia WATCH September 2006 Volume 18, No Georgia HUMAN Undue Punishment RIGHTS Abuses against Prisoners in Georgia WATCH September 2006 Volume 18, No. 8(D) Undue Punishment Abuses against Prisoners in Georgia Summary......................................................................................................................................... 1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 6 The Georgian Prison System .................................................................................................. 6 Organized Crime in Georgia................................................................................................... 9 Organized Crime in the Georgian Penitentiary System....................................................10 Government Efforts to Combat Organized Crime...........................................................11 Methodology................................................................................................................................13 Georgia’s International Obligations.........................................................................................15 Conditions in Prisons and the Treatment of Prisoners.........................................................20 Overcrowding in Penitentiary Facilities...............................................................................20 Government explanations for overcrowding.................................................................21 Conditions of overcrowding.............................................................................................24 Physical Conditions of Penitentiary Facilities.....................................................................26 Conditions in Tbilisi Prison No. 5...................................................................................26 Conditions in Tbilisi Prison No. 7...................................................................................28 Conditions in new prisons.................................................................................................28 Conditions in quarantine and punishment cells.............................................................29 Hygiene.....................................................................................................................................31 Food and Nutrition ................................................................................................................32 Medical Care for Detainees ...................................................................................................35 Republican Prison Hospital ..............................................................................................36 Prison medical wards .........................................................................................................38 Mental health and psychiatric care...................................................................................41 Access to Exercise ..................................................................................................................42 Lack of Access to Family Visits and Correspondence......................................................44 Access to Lawyers...................................................................................................................48 Access to Information............................................................................................................50 Lack of Purposeful Activities................................................................................................52 Complaint Mechanisms..........................................................................................................54 Monitoring of Prisons............................................................................................................55 Government Use of Force in Detention Facilities ................................................................58 The March 27 Disturbance in Prison No. 5 .......................................................................58 Detention of the alleged riot plotters and disturbance in the Republican Prison Hospital................................................................................................................................60 The disturbance travels to Prisons No. 5 and No. 1.....................................................62 The special operation to quell the disturbance ..............................................................64 Use of force during the special operation.......................................................................66 The issue of excessive use of force..................................................................................68 Government explanation for the use of force ...............................................................71 Treatment of the wounded ...............................................................................................72 Discrepancies in the number of killed and wounded....................................................75 Planning the operation.......................................................................................................77 Investigation into the March 27 incident in Tbilisi Prison No. 5 ...............................78 Other Incidents Involving the Use of Force in the Penitentiary System.......................82 Use of force against detainees in Kutaisi, Batumi, and Rustavi ..................................83 Use of force against detainees in Tbilisi Prison No. 7..................................................86 Impunity for Abuses Perpetrated by Prison Staff and Special Forces............................89 Recommendations.......................................................................................................................92 To the Government of Georgia ...........................................................................................92 To the General Prosecutor’s Office.....................................................................................94 To the Ministry of Justice......................................................................................................94 To the Ministry of Justice and the Penitentiary Department...........................................95 To the Ministry of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs and the Penitentiary Department ...................................................................................................................................................98 To the European Union.........................................................................................................98 To the Council of Europe ...................................................................................................100 To the United Nations.........................................................................................................101 To the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe......................................101 To the United States Government.....................................................................................101 To International Financial Institutions..............................................................................101 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................102 Summary Since its election in early 2004, the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili has stressed publicly its commitment to promote human rights, including by reforming Georgia’s prisons. Nevertheless, as this report documents, human rights abuses remain widespread throughout the Georgian penitentiary system. Conditions of detention and the treatment of prisoners remain appalling, and in some facilities constitute degrading treatment. Most prisons are extremely overcrowded, filthy, and poorly ventilated. Prisoners receive inadequate nutrition and substandard (if any) medical care and often have no possibility to leave their cells to exercise. Legislative and policy changes, supposedly part of a reform agenda begun in December 2005, have curtailed prisoners’ rights by reducing the number of family visits and, in some facilities, infringing on prisoners’ right to confidential meetings with their lawyers. Since new government efforts were started in December 2005 to combat crime, especially organized crime (including the power of organized crime bosses within the penitentiary system), many prisoners have been subjected to beatings and other ill- treatment, sometimes rising to the level of torture. What is more, the government’s latest anti-crime efforts have led to an increase in the prison population and have apparently led to government approval of a policy of quick resort to severe physical force, including lethal force, to maintain control over the prisons. During a March 27, 2006 disturbance in Tbilisi Prison No. 5, at least seven prisoners were killed and at least 17 others suffered serious injuries as a result of the use of force by law enforcement agents, including special forces. The government has failed to conduct effective investigations into the March 27 incident and other allegations of abuse. Recent government efforts to improve prison conditions, including by building new prisons, have failed to remedy longstanding institutional problems. The majority of Georgia’s nearly 13,000 prisoners, some 63 percent of whom are held on remand awaiting
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