Thursday, April 18 2019 17:32

ArmInfo.The system of correctional institutions of Armenia is replenished with 30 full-time units. The government of the country at a meeting on April 18  considered this draft, but the decision on its adoption was postponed  to the allotment.

According to RA Minister of Justice Artak Zeinalyan, this decision is  necessary to provide a convoy for prisoners undergoing treatment in  civilian medical institutions. The Minister stressed that a minimum  of 2 staff members per prisoner. Currently, 11 prisoners are under  treatment. As a rule, Zeynalyan continued, the staff of the  correctional institutions service should receive rest every 2 days,  however, taking into account the lack of staff, they carry out their  mission every day. The decision will allow to avoid the escape of  convicts, or the transfer of cell phones, drugs and other prohibited   items to them.  

In turn, RA Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan informed that by   August 15, 2019, four correctional institutions will be opened in four civilian hospitals in Yerevan, and by August 2020, in two regional medical institutions.  Artak Zeynalyan said that employees of these departments will receive the same salary as their colleagues working in penal institutions. 

The Minister stated that the work of the correctional institutions  system is not so attractive, and for this reason there are several  hundred vacant places. "There are no problems with prison overload at  the moment, on the contrary, we are considering the issue of  optimizing three correctional institutions with preserving the number  of guards, which will also save resources and, possibly, raise  salaries for employees," Zeinalyan said. 

According to him, today, virtually all the possibilities of  additional earnings on the part of guards are excluded, including  through the introduction of unresolved items. He also noted that a  bill had already been submitted to improve the conditions of  detention in the correctional institutions, including the possibility  of organizing labor for the provision of parole, as well as the  possibility of transforming one correctional institution into an  institution of an open type. "There is no congestion, the power has  improved, which has led to a reduction in the transfer of parcels  with food to the prison. I myself have tried: the power is quite  normal," said Zeynalyan. The Minister also reported that a pilot  program is being implemented to transfer power to the correctional  institutions for outsourcing. "We have already organized a pilot  program in Goris, when food for prisoners was prepared outside the  prison walls, after which it was delivered to places of detention.  Positive feedback has already been received, because this approach  allows us to diversify the menu and the range," said Zeynalyan.

RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan immediately responded to the  Minister's statement. "Be prepared that I'll somehow go to one of the  penitentiaries and try the food, because you teased your appetite,  having described the food in the Penitentiary in such a colorful  way," said Pashinyan. Meanwhile, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  believes, there are prisoners in Armenian prisons who live in  "concessional" conditions.

According to him, to understand what is happening in prisons it is  not even necessary to visit them, everything is clear and true. There  are also prisoners whose parcels are not checked, and it is not clear  why, after all this, the head of this penitentiary institution  remains at his post. "Many crimes in Armenia are organized directly  from the prison, using mobile phones," said Pashinyan. He is  convinced that without the participation of the staff of the  institutions this would have been impossible. The Minister of Justice  sees the solution to the problem of installing silencers on the  prison territory and reducing corruption risks.  Also, according to  Pashinyan, meeting rooms should be put in order.  Many of these  premises are simply degrading to humans.