The Special Penitentiary Service calls the Ombudsman's statements "baseless allegations" and claims that there is no criminal subculture in the penitentiaries.

The agency responds to Nino Lomjaria with a statement and clarifies that if prisoners in any penitentiary institution express dissatisfaction towards the Ombudsman on any issue, it is only their attitude and is not related to or managed by the administration of penitentiary institutions.

According to the statement, the management of the Service is doing its best to facilitate the monitoring of the situation in the penitentiary institutions by the Ombudsman and representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism.

"The Special Penitentiary Service is responding to the statement of the Public Defender of Georgia as if her representatives are facing problems from the 'informal rulers' supported by the prison administration during their visit to the penitentiary institutions.

The Special Penitentiary Service states that the management of the Service does its utmost to facilitate the monitoring of the situation in penitentiary institutions by the Ombudsman and representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism. This is evidenced by the fact that despite the restrictions relating to the pandemic, the Ombudsman's representatives have not encountered a problem with access to and monitoring of penitentiary institutions. As for the allegedly organized attacks on them by prisoners, the Special Penitentiary Service explains that the agency's management has no leverage to influence the attitude of prisoners towards the Ombudsman, or any other institution or individual. If prisoners in any penitentiary institution express dissatisfaction towards the Ombudsman on any issue, it is only their attitude and is not related or managed by the administration of the penitentiary institution. Moreover, in such cases, of course, representatives of the administration of penitentiary institutions protect the safety of the Ombudsman's representatives as much as possible, and hopefully, these individuals themselves cannot deny this.

The Penitentiary Service also has no leverage to influence the rate of prisoners' applications to the Public Defender’s Office, as prisoners have the right to free correspondence and telephone communication (with certain exceptions, which are regulated by law). The penitentiaries ensure that their letters be sent to the addressees. Consequently, if the number of inmates' applications to the Ombudsman has decreased, it is likely caused by their attitude towards the Public Defender’s office and not by some non-existent influence from the administration.

In addition, the Special Penitentiary Service reiterates that there is no criminal subculture in penitentiary institutions. Penitentiary institutions are run by the state and not by criminal authorities. And those convicts who wish to influence other inmates are transferred from semi-open penitentiary institutions to closed institutions where they are isolated from other inmates”, reads the statement.

source: IPN