Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili met with Director of LEPL Center for Crime Prevention and Innovative Programs of the Ministry of Justice Joni Kvinikadze. At the meeting, “Programme of rehabilitation and re-socialization of former prisoners” was discussed. Director of the Center for Crime Prevention Joni Kvinikadze provided the Public Defender with information on progress of the programme, as well as services for participating beneficiaries and their future plans. According to him, 1342 former prisoners applied to “Programme for rehabilitation and re-socialization of former prisoners” of the Center for Crime Prevention in 2013-2014; 917 beneficiaries out of these applicants are actively involved in the programme.

At the meeting, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili expressed his interest in specifics of particular services designed for former prisoners, existing problems and statistical data. The parties agreed on active cooperation in the future.

“The programme for rehabilitation and re-socialization of former prisoners” was established at the end of 2012. It is the first state programme to support former prisoners. It aims at supporting rehabilitation of individuals released from penitentiary establishments, their return to the society as its fully-fledged members.