On May 8, the representatives of the Department for Prevention of Torture and Ill-treatment (National Preventive Mechanism) of the RA Human Rights Defender's Office made an unannounced monitoring visit to Vardashen penitentiary institution of the RA Ministry of Justice.
Within the framework of the monitoring, the status of ensuring the rights of persons deprived of their liberty in the penitentiary institution, detention conditions and their compliance with the required standards were examined.
The monitoring was conducted with the participation of lawyers, doctors, and psychologist, using special methodology and measuring devices (space, temperature, etc.).
During the visit, the detention conditions of the persons deprived of liberty in the penitentiary institution were examined in detail, including bathrooms and toilets, food, medical care and service provision, number of medical staff and their working conditions, issues related to prisoners' contact with outside world and re-socialization.
The following issue have been recorded during the visit:
violations with regard to ensuring personal space sufficient for persons deprived of their liberty, in particular, in some cells, the requirement of 4 square meter area per person is not maintained,
insufficient sanitary and hygienic conditions;
insufficient conditions of the building: there is a need for renovation,
the disciplinary cells and quarantine department are not separated from each other, as well as the sanitary and hygienic insufficient conditions in the mentioned cells were recorded,
medical assistance to persons deprived of their liberty is not properly ensured;
violations of maintenance of medicine and medical privacy have been recorded,
the work of a psychologist is not clearly organized, the practice of personal rehabilitation of prisoners is unacceptable, there are only formal records and the psychologist does not have the necessary professional tools,
foreigners deprived of their liberty who do not know Armenian have communication difficulties, which hinders their enjoyment of proper medical care and other rights due to the lack of knowledge of that language by the penitentiary service staff,
there are no sufficient working conditions for the staff of the penitentiary, including issues with regard to the lack of office space in the penitentiary institution, or, if it is available, there is a need of renovation, issues with the access to toilets, as well as lack of professional training.
All the issues have been discussed with the administration of the penitentiary. They will be summarized and submitted to the competent authorities together with recommendations for their solution.
During the monitoring, no obstacles were created for the representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism.