The council of Europe will assist the Georgian authorities to improve treatment of the inmates suffering with the mental disorders. The Project started In January 2018 and will last for 18 months, until the end of June 2019. Development of mental health services in prison, guided by a systematic approach and revised legislative framework together with the capacity raising of the related personal is the way to achieve the settled goals.

Wide range of activities is envisaged to achieve the objective of the project and to strengthen the human rights observation and the rule of law in treatment of prisoners with mental health problems in Georgia. Other goals of the project are to improve the identification and management of prisoners with mental health problems and support inmates in crisis and to support the programmes for the offenders and increase the knowledge of the more specialized staff to enable them to provide psychological support to the inmates.

The project will be implemented with the close partnership with the Ministry of Corrections, The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the office of public defender and the civil society actors. 

Retour Training on Opioid Agonist Treatment in Penitentiary Institutions

Training on Opioid Agonist Treatment in Penitentiary Institutions

Over 120 members of the penitentiary staff were trained on long-term Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) in a first cascade training held for penitentiary system personnel (doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, regime and security staff) in penitentiary institutions in Georgia.

Access to OAT has increased significantly in the civil sector during the past few years, while in prisons OAT accessibility is still low. Despite OAT being currently provided in two prisons, the long-term maintenance OAT is planned to be gradually introduced to all penitentiary institutions in Georgia. Therefore, raising awareness of the penitentiary staff on OAT-related issues is of great importance for improving the provision of therapy and ensuring smooth introduction of long-term maintenance OAT in prisons.

This training is organised in the framework of the project “Enhancement of Human Rights and Health-Care Support to the Penitentiary System”. The Project is funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia.

17 - 21 November 2021
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Support in finalising the Penitentiary Mental Health Strategy. Support to the implementation of the Action Plan on crisis intervention/management in prisons, setup of crisis intervention units, promoting multidisciplinary approach.  Staff skills, professionalism:

  • Institutionalize the professional development course for psychiatric nurses and reach more nurses;
  • Enhance regime officers’ skills on managing prisoners with mental health problems, including recognising and dealing with prisoners with personality disorder; more specialized skills for prison health workers on identifying and managing mental disorders;
  • Enhancing staff skills for administering available psycho-social programme for inmates with substance addiction

Support introduction and proper use of mental health screening tools. Further harmonizing of mental health related legislation. Support to implementation of the Action Plan for introduction of quality control in health care (including mental health) services. Improving mental health care related data collection and data processing.

To implement the project, the Council of Europe will use a wide variety of activities, including but not limiting to: assessment of legal framework; expert reviews; technical papers; drafting of policies and action plans; training, peer exchange and other learning opportunities for all categories of prison staff, including senior managers, as well as on-site counselling and coaching to advise and follow-up on the implementation of recommended actions.

The project is implemented by the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Cooperation Unit which is part of the Action against Crime Department, Information Society and Action against Crime Directorate, under the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law together with the Council of Europe Office in Georgia.

Senior Project Officer
Eteri KAMARAULI

 Project Officer
Nino LAPACHI