On July 9, 2024, another working meeting was held between the Public Defender’s Office and the Special Penitentiary Service. The agencies discussed the challenges identified by the Public Defender’s Office in the penitentiary system and the recommendations developed by the Public Defender. The Special Penitentiary Service shared with the Public Defender’s Office information about ongoing projects and positive novelties in the system.

The issues discussed at the meeting included: 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, the strategy of dividing into small institutions and creating a balanced infrastructure, improving the electronic surveillance system, strengthening the rehabilitation and resocialization programmes for prisoners and the psycho-social component, the need to place prisoners in penitentiary institutions close to their families, ensuring the rights situation of prisoners transferred to civil clinics for a long period of time, etc.

The agencies will continue to cooperate in the future in order to improve the rights situation of prisoners. The Public Defender’s Office 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 Public Defender’s Office of Georgia.