The overall objective of the 35-month project was to strengthen the protection of human rights and improve the inmates’ access to better healthcare services (including mental healthcare) in prisons, police detention and other closed facilities in Georgia, in line with European standards. More specifically, it had the aims to support the development of the capacities of the national authorities in providing quality healthcare services for prisoners and detainees, in improving the treatment of mentally disabled persons and those of with mental disorder as well as in reinforcing monitoring and investigating capacities to prevent ill-treatment and fight against impunity.

A wide variety of activities included: legal advice and drafting of various policy documents; development of strategy and action plans on penitentiary health care, mental health and fight against ill-treatment and impunity; needs assessment and development of psycho-social rehabilitation programmes for inmates; design of training materials and programmes for different target groups on variety of topics including human rights, preventive health care and suicide prevention; awareness-raising on prevention of transmissible diseases and on human rights issues related to mental health; purchase of medical equipment as well as other capacity building activities (workshops, conferences, seminars, on-site counselling, study visits) for members of monitoring and investigative bodies, medical and non-medical staff of prisons and police detention facilities and for staff of psychiatric establishments.  

The project implementing partners were the Ministry of Corrections, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office.

The overall project budget is 3,340,000 EUR funded by the European Union, co-funded by the Council of Europe. The project finished on 25 February.