Armenian penitentiaries are overcrowded, alarm NGOs

The penitentiaries in Armenia are overcrowded, according to a statement jointly rleased by a few Armenian NGOs.

"During the recent years' increase in the number of the people deprived of liberty was observed; during the lastyear the number of the people deprived of liberty was increased by more than 20%. Penitentiary Institutions are overcrowded. In particular, as of July 1, 2010, 4850 people deprived of liberty are kept in the penitentiary institutions designated for 4396 people. For instance, in Nubarashen penitentiary institution in the cell designed for 8 people, up to 20 people are kept. The beds are not enough, as a result the people deprived of liberty sleep by turns, some of them at night, some of them in the afternoon," reads the statement.

Further it says that less than 2sq/m area is allocated to every person deprived of liberty, whereas according to Armenia's legislation, as well as international standards at least 4sq/m should be afforded.

"Overcrowding causes health and physiological problems, lack of air, deterioration of the health, physiological tension and conflicts. These conditions are interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and in certain cases also as torture."

According to the statement overcrowding in penitentiaries is caused due to increase of the number of crimes, wide usage of the detention as a measure of restraint by the courts.

Among other reasons it mentiones "limited usage of alternative punishments" and "conditional release on parole."

"According to 2009 data only 14 per cent of the prisoners who had the opportunity to be released on parole were approved for the release. This is conditioned by the factor that there are no relevant criteria on which the committees on conditional release can make their decisions. Besides, the members of the independent committees on the conditional release on parole represent state bodies, including law enforcement bodies, are led by the interest of their departments and subjective factors," reads the statement.

Further the NGOs propose that the competent authorities should declare an amnesty in an attempt to "terminate human rights mass violations in penitentiary institutions."