Reality from Rustavi Prison # 5 for a Female Convict – Report of Humanrights.ge

“It is a pity to lock women up not only in prison but also at home,” a taxi-driver taking us to Rustavi Prison # 5 for female convicts told us. We hear babies and toddlers crying in the reception. Relatives cannot calm a little girl – “we want to take her to her mother but she is afraid of people in uniforms.” A baby wrapped in clothes is also taken to his mother.

“One of the main problems of the prison is the lack of proper medical assistance for inmates. Almost every prisoner has digestive health problems. This is caused by poor food in the prison. This year, one inmate found a worm in her food. Many of them cannot eat this food and then they get sick because they are under-nourished. Prisoners cannot go to a dentist in prison. They are afraid of spreading infections,” a relative of a prisoner explained to us. She said there is no floor in the cells so female prisoners often have colds.

“Soon scandalous stories will start to come out of this prison. Serious deals are made between the prison administration and the medical hospital. Do not you find it strange that these are female prisoners aged between 30 and 40 and the majority of them have had hysterectomies?! Could so many prisoners have womb problems?!” lawyers and prisoners’ relatives ask.

Humanrights.ge visited Prison # 5 on October 19. Lawyers leaving the prison told us that women were continuing their hunger-strike and that there was a real threat of rioting in the prison.

“About 15 minutes ago a prisoner called me and said prisoners were refusing to enter their cells in protest. The reason for their protest was the results of tuberculosis tests conducted on October 18 in the prison. They showed that the majority of them had the active form of tuberculosis, which is a dangerous disease. 10 out of 40 women in each cell has this active form of tuberculosis.

Now, prisoners have told me that the prison administration is trying to convince them that there was mistake in the tests and allege that the test-tubes were contaminated. It is a weak argument for the prisoners,” lawyer Salome Archvadze said.

She added that the conditions for prisoners sick with tuberculosis in prison # 5 are very poor. Their cells have no windows. The walls are soaked with chemicals that have a negative impact on women’s health.

According to Salome Archvadze, a prisoner who is breastfeeding her child also has tuberculosis.

A representative of the organization Caucasian Women with University Education, lawyer Nona Pilauri, also spoke about the current situation in the women's prison. At our request she provided the names of the inmates on hunger strike on October 19. “My clients are not on hunger strike. However, the prison administration told me that four women are on strike now and they are: Ketevan Zarnadze, Tamriko Talikadze, Irma Kvaratskhelia and Maia Salukvadze. They demand reexamination of their health conditions and relevant medical assistance.”

The administration of Rustavi Prison # 4 refrained from speaking with humanrights.ge. However, they sent message to us via security officers that only three inmates are on hunger-strike in the prison.

After the information about the ongoing protest in the prison was spread, human rights defenders went to the prison. Despite that, these few prisoners are continuing their hunger-strike and still request that attention be paid to their demands.

Relatives and lawyers of prisoners said that the problems of Prison # 5 were exposed all at once because inmates are no longer afraid of the prison administration and hope to change their conditions for the better.