Protection of human rights in closed and semi-closed institutions has been the cornerstone of the Law and Criminal Justice Program of the Open Society Institute. Starting from 2002 the Foundation has been supporting the Group of Public Observers Conducting Public Monitoring of Penitentiary Institutions and Bodies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. The Group conducts monitoring visits to the closed and semi-closed institutions of RA to monitor the situation related to human rights in these institutions and to present the findings to the public. The Group consists of people who represent various non-governmental organizations and act on voluntary basis. The Group prepares a report based on their visits, which is submitted to the Ministry of Justice for comments. After having received the comments from the Ministry, the Group presents the report to stakeholders and the public. The 2008 Report was presented on July 23, at 11:00 am in the Ball Room of Congress Hotel.
 
The main speaker of the event was Mr. Arman Danielyan, the chairman of the Group. In his speech he referred to the situation in those penitentiaries in which they had done the monitoring. Speaking about “Nubarashen” penitentiary and its facilities, he stressed that this institution is highly over-populated. He mentioned that the causes for this were the widespread application of arrests when it is possible to adhere to other alternatives, the small amount of detainees who are released prematurely and other issues.
The cases of violence and bad treatment were also discussed. These cases are usually hard to reveal as people are scared to talk about them or these are almost impossible to prove. Bad treatment or violence to detainees happen as punishment, and the cases which took place in 2005 in Goris penitentiary and in 2008 in “Nubarashen” penitentiary were mentioned as examples.
There have been complaints related to food, particularly in “Nubarashen” penitentiary. Meals are often prepared by the detainees themselves and not by skilful chefs, which affects the quality of the food. During the visits special attention was also paid to health issues. There are acute problems related to medical staffing, the low salary they get and supply of medicines which are provided to penitentiaries in a centralized manner. In case of having the need of a medication not included in the package, long time is needed till the physician is able to solicit and get the medicine. To solve this issue, the Group suggests establishing a fund for such special cases. The existence of medical equipment in these institutions is not sufficient either.
The meetings of the detainees with their relatives have been a special topic for monitoring. Long-term visits are often rare or impossible due to lack of proper building facilities. There are also telephones; however, the prisoners can use them only at their own expense and according to preliminarily approved schedule, which varies from place to place. The Group suggests allowing minimal time to each detainee free of charge as not all of them have the possibility to make calls at their expense.
The Report also reflects on the working conditions of the staff of penitentiaries and their safety issues.  Mr. Danielyan mentioned that an employee of a penitentiary may find himself with a large number of prisoners, and in case of an emergency there are no communication means to call for assistance. He also mentioned that in a number of places good conditions have been created for detainees, but not for employees for whom the working conditions continue to remain tough.
The Deputy Minister of Justice also delivered a speech. He attached great importance to the Report and mentioned that it gave the possibility to have an alternative study on the situation and existent phenomena. He agreed that many issues are related to the condition of buildings and infrastructures, which have come from Soviet times. Many of the institutions do not have satisfactory conditions.  The Deputy Minister mentioned that in 2001 infrastructural reforms were initiated, and many institutions were renovated, but this is not sufficient yet. The Ministry has worked out a new infrastructure reform package according to which the existing 13 penitentiaries will unite into 7 or 8 and will conform to international standards. This will help reduce corruption and will help protect the rights of the detainees, such as the right to long-term visits with relatives will become real.  
As far as bad treatment was concerned, Mr. Arustamian mentioned that it has always been, there is and will be. Such cases happen both between the detainee and the employee and between the detainees themselves. However, there is a need to clearly separate bad treatment from the cases of using weapons. In one case the employee is rewarded, in another case he is punished. He mentioned that if weapon has been used, it is necessary to investigate whether it has been used within law provisions and if not, then it’s breaking of the law and needs punishment.
He also spoke about the issues of penitentiary employees mentioning that this type of work is very hard and that they face numerous problems, including insufficient pay and risk factors existent in their work.
The speech of Deputy Minister was followed by questions. Former political detainee Vardges Gaspari raised the issue of drug use in prisons. He asked if there were check –ups on their use.  The Deputy Minister answered that since drug use has been de-criminalized, it is not regarded as crime and there is no criminal punishment for that. Compulsory treatment is organized only in cases where there is a court decision. A prevention project was conducted based on voluntary principle, but few have participated.
As far as ward inspection with masked individuals is concerned, Mr. Arustamian mentioned that the latter is always accompanied by an employee without a mask and that it is done for the safety of that particular employee and his family. He also said that there is a big discrepancy between the numbers of detainees and employees.
The wife of former political detainee A. Arzumanian raised the issue of taking food parcels to the prisons. The Deputy Minister answered that in many developed countries the prisoner has no right to get such parcels; he buys food from the store located in the penitentiary. However, in Armenia this wrong practice has become common.
During the subsequent discussion Mr. Vardges Gaspari mentioned that the report illustrates only 5% of the issues existent in the penitentiaries and that 95% is in shadow as these are closed institutions. He informed that the violence cases there are so terrible that one has to be there to imagine them.  
Mr. Avetik Ishkhanyan, the chairman of Armenian Helsinki Committee made a suggestion not to have more than two people in a ward. It was as well suggested to number the people in masks so that in case of a problem it’s easy to know which one has surpassed their authorities. There was also an idea to add the number of monitors in the Group. While summing up the report, the Deputy Minister and Mr. Ishkhanyan mentioned that the improvements in the system are still insufficient and that increasing the transparency in the area will definitely lead to increase in criticism, which should be taken in a positive manner. They also mentioned that there are many faults and flaws, and the activities of the Monitoring Group will help to diagnose and mitigate them. Thanking the participants, the Deputy Minister mentioned that the Ministry is trying to ensure publicity of their activities to reduce the mistrust to this Ministry among the population.
English excerpts from the electronic version of the Report can be found here as well as under the “Publications” section of this website.