Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice, got acquainted with the performance reports 2022 of the department, the results of the activity and the forthcoming programs.

Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Tigran Khachatryan, Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan, Head of the State Supervision Service Romanos Petrosyan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Sargis Torosyan, Deputy Minister of Finance Vahan Sirunyan, head of the Penitentiary Service Sergey Atomyan, other officials participated in the consultation.

The Prime Minister was first presented with the construction-improvement works carried out in 2022. According to the report, in the previous year, construction works in penitentiaries were twice as much as the previous five years together. Accordinglt, construction works worth 545 million 613 thousand drams were implemented in 2017-2021, and in 2022 - 1 billion 289 million 959 thousand drams. The upcoming programs for improving the building conditions of the penitentiaries were also presented. It is envisaged that their volume will reach 2 billion 52 million drams. The works for the organization of a tender for the construction of a new penitentiary is underway. After building it, 4 penitentiaries will be closed in Yerevan.

According to the report, for the first time in the history of the penitentiary system, a program to provide foreign citizens with a translator at the expense of state funds has been introduced, since about 125 foreign citizens are in prison on monthly basis. 304 translations were made in 2022.

The programs related to the introduction of the new model of the operative unit were discussed at the meeting, the option of establishing the operative department of the Central Body was proposed. The programs related to the introduction of a new management model in "Armavir" penitentiary were also presented.

As for the optimization of vehicles, it was reported that there were 82 vehicles in the balance sheet of penitentiary service, of which 11 vehicles were handed over to the State Property Management Committee, the handing over of another 6 vehicles is in process. At the end of 2022, 10 new special vehicles were purchased, there are 75 vehicles at the moment. It was suggested to purchase 16 electromobiles, alienate 26 more vehicles, as a result of which it is expected to save up to 58 million drams a year, increase the efficiency of the service.

There was also a reference to the statistical data on imprisoned persons in 2022. In particular, it was noted that a total of 2265 convicts and detainees are kept in penitentiaries. In total, the penitentiaries of the country are designed for 4491 people, ie, there is no problems with overload.

Issues related to the education of those deprived of liberty, other measures related to the work of re-integration and the employment of convicts were also discussed.

It was reported that as a result of security measures in 2022, the state of the art video surveillance equipment was installed in the Armavir penitentiary.

In the context of improving the resilience against emergency situations, a plan for emergency situations in the penitentiaries was developed.

It was reported that in the direction of introducing mobile network jamming systems in penitentiaries, discussions were organized with representatives of investigative, operational bodies and Prosecutor’s Office, mobile operators in Armenia and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry. The purpose of the work is to introduce such a system that will exclude the access of prisoners to the mobile network and Internet.

The officials in charge also reported that the new food supply program to penitentiaries operates effectively. 99.2% of convicts and detainees use high-quality food.

Summing up, the Prime Minister highlighted the reforms in penitentiaries, including the improvement of building conditions, hiring highly qualified employees, fighting against criminal subculture, and the employment and education opportunities of the convicts. "The value and purpose of all the reforms is to determine the clear standard of punishment," said the Prime Minister.