Meeting at the Ministry of Corrections

April 21, 2017, US judge Mark Speiser, visiting the European University, held an official meeting with the Minister of Corrections and Probation of Georgia. Minister Kakhi Kakhishvili introduced to the American judge the changes carried out in the penitentiary and probation system. According to the minister, after 2012 large-scale reforms were carried out in the penitentiary system to ensure the protection of the convicts’ rights and to improve the regime conditions of penitentiary institutions. For this purpose, many legislative measures have been implemented.

Kakha Kakhishvili emphasized that torture and inhuman or degrading treatment is no longer used as a method of managing penitentiary institutions, the death rate has decreased dramatically, and access to penitentiary healthcare services has improved, including tuberculosis and hepatitis C treatment programs. In addition, a special online store was created for the sale of works made by convicts in penitentiary institutions, from which the cost of the sold item is charged to the convicts' own account.

Judge Mark Speiser expressed his admiration for the changes carried out in the penitentiary system of Georgia. According to him, Georgia is one of the progressive and rapidly developing countries and it will definitely become a member of the European Union.

"I am impressed with the reforms you have carried out. You give the convicts hope that they will become better and easily resocialize in society. The meeting was a good opportunity to share the experiences of Florida and Georgia. We talked about the issues of convicts with mental problems and different methods of managing institutions", - said Mark Speiser.