There is no violence-free environment in the penitentiary establishments, which is manifested in physical and psychological violence among inmates, criminal subculture, and the long-term and inappropriate use of de-escalation, solitary confinement and internal classification cells, Special Preventive Group of the Public Defender of Georgia said after it conducted the monitoring in penitentiary establishments.

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, the Special Preventive Group of the Public Defender of Georgia conducted monitoring in penitentiary establishments N2, N8, N14 and N15 in July and August 2019. The visits were made to the largest semi-open and closed facilities.

“The systemic and characterizing aspects of each institution were analyzed in a complex manner, based on the information obtained during monitoring. One of the main focuses of the monitoring was to examine the extent and forms of informal governance in the institutions as the above poses a serious threat to prisoners’ ill-treatment, which leads to violence and oppression among prisoners.

According to the information obtained by the Special Preventive Group, there is no violence-free environment in the facilities, which is manifested in physical and psychological violence among inmates, criminal subculture, and the lengthy and inappropriate use of de-escalation, solitary confinement and internal classification cells.

The institutions are overcrowded and there is a shortage of staff, which tempts the administration to delegate the functions of conflict resolution and “keeping order” to informal rulers. The establishments, where the impact of informal governance is high, are characterized by physical and severe psychological violence among prisoners. Psychological violence is mainly manifested in extortion, humiliation, marginalization and other acts.

Criminal subculture is particularly prevalent in semi-open establishments, where informal rulers are privileged and force other prisoners to obey informal rules. It was found that prisoners are not properly aware of their rights and responsibilities and refuse to exercise their right to complain due to the influence of criminal subculture and fear of repression.

It should be noted that prisoners, with only a few exceptions, do not speak about the physical abuse by prison staff. They mainly talk about psychological violence and unethical behaviour,” reads the report.