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 Improved internal monitoring of mental healthcare in penitentiary institutions

Nino LAPACHI

Modified 3 Years ago.

@ Council of Europe

On 18-19 March 2023, the Monitoring Department of the Special Penitentiary Service staff was trained on monitoring the identification process of prisoners with mental health problems, effective case management, and provision of relevant services in penitentiary institutions.

The SPS Monitoring Department is responsible for internal prison oversight by observing the fulfilment of legislative requirements and the protection of human rights of prisoners in the penitentiary system. Their increased awareness of the legal and ethical considerations related to the assessment and management of prisoners with mental health problems, while protecting their needs, will promote a more efficient implementation of these responsibilities. They also improved their understanding on provision of relevant psychosocial intervention, stigma reduction, and on the analysis, evaluation and verification of information collected through the WHO QualityRights Toolkit.

One session was dedicated to introducing the training participants to the role and activities of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) of Georgia, which approach contributed to better understanding and building further synergies between the two monitoring mechanisms.

This training was conducted under the auspices of the Council of Europe project “Enhancing Healthcare Provision in Georgia’s Penitentiary System”, which is a part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023.

Georgia 23 March 2023