Justice minister highly values works done in 2019 for retreat of criminal subculture

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The main achievement of the justice ministry of Armenia in the correctional field for 2019 is the major work done for the retreat of the criminal subculture, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan told reporters at a press conference, adding that the actions on this direction will definitely continue.

“The preliminary observation of the correctional field gave me an impression that this field has not been planned to be managed by the state, in other words, the field has been handed to the criminal subculture. This is my recording because there are no elementary building conditions in a correctional facility, there are no cameras”, he said, adding that this shows that in the past years the state hasn’t made any effort to have manageable correctional facilities where persons’ rights are not violated, where the criminal subculture doesn’t have an influence on the prisoners and detainees.

The minister said that a major progress was recorded thanks to the works carried out in 2019. “Major personnel changes were made in the correctional facilities after which the situation in terms of the subculture has greatly changed. Of course, there are still a lot of works to do”, the minister said.

He also talked about the new food delivery program in prisons by the private sector, which, according to the minister, reduces the corruption risks. At the moment the program is implemented in Nubarashen and Armavir correctional facilities, but already in June-July it will be applied in all 12 correctional facilities.

The justice minister also informed that they will soon acquire cameras for the correctional facilities.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan