The Public Defender of Georgia has addressed Minister of Corrections and Probation Kakha Kakhishvili with a recommendation on ensuring the prisoners’ right to use stores in penitentiary institutions.

The Public Defender’s Department of Prevention and Monitoring studied the supply issue of stores in penitentiary institutions and evaluated both quantity of items and resupplying frequency as insufficient. Accordingly, prisoners are not able to purchase necessary products.

Employees of the stores confirm shortages. They explain that Ltd GMM either does not provide necessary products at all or does it only in small amounts. Insufficient amount of phone cards in the stores is a major problem, preventing inmates from making calls to family members.

The state of female inmates in the N2 facility, who cannot buy necessary cosmetics and living essentials because of supply problems, deserves special attention.

The Public Defender considers that the fact of having prison stores managed by private companies does not exempt the Ministry of Corrections and Probation of its commitments, according to which prisoners should be held in decent conditions and should have access to items of basic necessity and food products.