Monitoring Council Forbidden to Take Photos of Prison Hospital

Monitoring Council Forbidden to Take Photos of Prison Hospital

On Monday, May 1st, the Ombudsman of Georgia addressed the Minister of Justice and asked him to allow members of the Psychiatric Institutions Monitoring Council to monitor the situation in the Convicts and Prisoners Medical Institution (Prison Hospital) - part of the Department of Execution of Punishment. He also requested the Monitoring Council be allowed to use a camera in order to document the situation they discovered there. The Minister of Justice approved the Ombudsmen’s requests but it appears that the Department of Execution of Punishment refused to follow the Minister’s orders.

On May 5th, members of the Psychiatric Institutions Monitoring Council, as well as the Head of the Department of Monitoring and Investigation of the Office of Public Defender, visited the Prison Hospital. There they discovered that the Director of the institution had not been informed about their visit. After a while, he allowed the monitoring group to enter the institution, but prohibited them from taking any photos.

It should be noted that the Psychiatric Institutions Monitoring Council normally uses cameras in order to document the conditions inside institutions. This allows the Council to make its reports to the public and the media more understandable. Because the institution’s administration allowed the members of the Council to enter the institution, they also, according to the authority of the Minister of Justice, should have been allowed to use cameras.

Prohibiting the use of cameras creates a serious obstacle to the work of the Monitoring Council. Because of this situation, the members of the Psychiatric Institutions Monitoring Council refused to carry out any monitoring of the Convicts and Prisoners Medical Institution of the Department of Execution of Punishment.

 *  *   *
Independent experts also faced the same problem one month ago, when they were not allowed to enter Tbilisi Jail # 7 - managing gain entry only after orders were given by the Minister of Justice.

http://www.ombudsman.ge/eng/press_center/hot_news.html