Enhancing healthcare provision in Georgia's penitentiary system

The project aims to protect the human rights of prisoners and probationers by improving the quality of the access, provision and organisation of mental health and substance use-related services, as well as other relevant therapeutic and rehabilitation activities.

The project will assist national authorities in further developing appropriate policies and strengthening capacities to ensure equivalence and continuity of healthcare for offenders, in line with Council of Europe standards and best practices. Updated standards and guidance will include gender-sensitive, non-discriminatory, patient-oriented and evidence-based strategies.

WHAT DO WE EXPECT TO ACHIEVE?

Strengthened policy, regulatory and strategic frameworks for the provision and organisation of mental health care services;
Improved tools and methodologies for national human rights bodies who monitor the quality of the provision of mental healthcare provision in penitentiary and probation systems;
Increased capacity and skills of the management, operational and medical staff of penitentiary and probation systems, as well as the independent monitoring staff.

HOW WILL THE PROJECT WORK?

A combination of needs assessments, expert advice, round tables, working groups and experts’ meetings, and tailor-made training courses will serve to achieve the goal of the project.

The project team works closely with partners, i.e. the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the Public Defender's Office/National Preventive Mechanism and relevant civil society organisations. The project facilitates dialogue between relevant stakeholders to ensure a joint national approach to managing mental healthcare and well-being of offenders. It will support the creation of a multi-disciplinary and holistic methods which consider all situations of vulnerability such as those concerning women, juveniles, persons with disabilities, people who use drugs and LGTBQI people.

The Project is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia (2020-2023) and its total budget is 600 000 Euros.

The project started on 1st of April 2022 and runs until the end of December 2023.

The project builds on the achievements of the European Union - Council of Europe joint project “Human Rights and Healthcare in Prisons and Other Closed Institutions in Georgia” (2010-2017), and the previous projects funded by voluntary contributions, namely: the projects on “Improving Mental Health Care of Persons Detained in Georgia” (2018-2019) and “Enhancement of Human Rights and Health-Care Support to Penitentiary System” (2019-2022).

Project documentation

Useful information

Tbilisi office Website

Project news

Back CoE continues to support Georgian authorities in improving treatment of persons in detention

Nino LAPACHI

Modified 3 Years ago.

@ Council of Europe

The Council of Europe continues to provide support to Georgian national authorities in improving treatment of persons in detention and enhancing compliance of policing with the human rights standards. Steering Committee (SC) meetings of two Council of Europe projects “Human Rights Compliant Policing in Georgia” and “Enhancing Healthcare Provision in Georgia's Penitentiary System” were held on 11 and 12 October 2022 respectively.

Both SC meetings were dedicated to reviewing progress and adopting projects’ workplans for the upcoming 6-month period (October 2022 -March 2023). Both Project teams presented the main achievements of the projects made in past 6 months and introduced future planned activities to the SC members. The presentations were followed by discussions on the workplans content with the beneficiaries.

Within the police project the SC members agreed on the priority activities for the next period, with focus on working with juvenile offenders and victims, further support the development of the SIS’s capacity to investigate torture and ill-treatment, further strengthening NPM’s capacity in monitoring police actions and improving links between the mentioned authorities and CSOs. When it comes to the healthcare project, the participants discussed how to best optimize available project and institutional resources to meet priority needs in the areas of provision of mental healthcare and substance-abuse related treatment in the penitentiary system, including the important issue of addressing staff burnout.

As a result, the SC members under both projects reaffirmed their commitment to implementation of the planned activities and adopted the final versions of the workplans. The mentioned projects are funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia for 2020-2023.

Georgia 17 October 2022