Armenia’s prison service is comprised of 15 establishments, including pretrial detention facilities as well as 2 so-called ‘penal colony settlements’. As of beginning 2003, there were around 4300 prisoners being held in Armenian prisons.
Once the Soviet Union was dissolved and the Constitutional reform had been undertaken, the prison system needed to undergo important changes. The plan for the reform of the penitentiary system was based on two main pillars: the reorganization of the institutional framework and a legislative review.
The implementation of the penitentiary reform started in 2001 with the transfer of the prison system from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Justice. The underlying reasons for this transfer were the need to demilitarize and humanize the Armenian penitentiary system. In reality, the transfer of authorities was one of the first commitments by Armenia following its accession to the Council of Europe on 2001 (Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Opinion No. 211 (2000)).
The legislative review of the prison system is part of the overall reviews to be carried out by the Department of Legal and Judicial Reforms (formerly the Department of Structural Reforms). This department, located within the Ministry of Justice, has the broad mandate to coordinate the criminal justice reform in the country.
The main pieces of legislation related to the prison services recently promulgated or under development are:
- Law on the Status on the Penitentiary Service, enacted in 2001
- Law on the Treatment of Arrestees and Detainees, enacted in 2002
- Draft Criminal Executive Code
- Law of Penitentiary Service, enacted in 2003
- Ministerial Decrees, including the Draft Internal Regulation for Pre-trial Detention Facilities
The starting point of the legal reform process of the prison services was the Law on Legal Status on the Penitentiary Service enacted in 2001. It mainly establishes the transfer of responsibilities from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Justice.
One of the first areas under review was the regulations applicable to detention of pre-trial detainees (also called awaiting trial detainees) and those in police custody (termed as arrestees).In February 2002, the Law on Treatment of Arrestees and Detainees was adopted to replace the Soviet-time government decree on the Approval of the Procedure of Remand in Custody of 1976. One of the important changes incorporated in this law is the right of arrestees and detainees to receive regular visits. The Internal Regulations, which develops further the framework established by the Law on the Treatment of Arrestees and Detainees has already been drafted.
Currently, another important legislative development is the draft of the Criminal Executive Code, which mainly deals with detention of awaiting trial detainees. It aims at replacing the Code of Corrective Labor of 1971. Important aspects of the code are the creation of ‘criminal executive inspectorates’ who are to be responsible for the implementation of most of the alternatives to imprisonment.
The Law on Penitentiary Service (2003) aims mainly to establish a framework for the penitentiary service structure and the procedural aspects of its functioning. A higher emphasis is to be given to regulating the custody of convicted prisoners, such as establishing the legal status of the convicted, the guarantees for ensuring their rights and freedoms and a procedure for assisting convicted prisoners upon their release from custody.
The regulations by Ministerial decrees are aimed at addressing a number of existing gaps, including regulations on the use of force, firearms and non-lethal weapons, the civil society monitoring board, compulsory medical treatment of inmates and the treatment of convicts in mental hospitals under compulsory powers. The Regulation on Organizing Social and Psychological Services with Detainees and Prisoners at Penitentiary Service was approved by the Minister of Justice in September 2003.
It is important to highlight that some of the drafts are submitted to external expert analysis. For example, in 1999 the Council of Europe carried out an expert examination of the draft Executional Code.
The legal framework is of great importance in the preparatory phase of the reforms program, as it will lay down the foundation for future developments in the Armenian prison services. Within the current situation in Armenia, it is important to guarantee that legal reforms are developed on the basis of prisoners’ rights as established by international standards and by the Armenian Constitution. At the same time, it is essential to ensure the minimum time difference possible between the development of the legislation on awaiting trials detainees and the future enactment of legislation governing the custody of convicted prisoners; in this way preventing great discrepancies between the national legal standards for awaiting trial and convicted prisoners.
Analysis provided by: Barbara Nazareth Andrade de Oliveira, Legal Expert.
Hide
Homepage
Search this site
Repository (ODIHR only)
Site map