Gevorg Safaryan: Food in prison tastes like wish-wash (video)
Member of the Founding Parliament opposition movement Gevorg Safaryan was released from prison ten years ago. During his one-month stay in prison he managed to form a clear notion about penitentiary institutions in Armenia. “Sanitary conditions are very bad in prisons. A water pipe stretches out from a wall in the ward intended for hunger strikers. Its edge goes down into the toilet and prisoners have to drink water from the pipe. Sewage water dripped onto your heads in the prison corridor and you get the impression as if you are in a rotten Tsarist prison,” he says. Conditions are improving in prisons, says Arsen Hambardzumyan, Deputy Head of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice. He says although the buildings are not modern, they have all facilities required for penitentiary institutions. “Recently, we conducted sanitary inspections, and the epidemiological intelligence service said almost everything meets standards. We had some minor shortcomings that have been eliminated,” he added. In 2014, the Armenian Ombudsman also referred to the shortcomings in penitentiaries. Besides, the issue has been in the center of attention of human rights activists and observer groups. Gevorg Safaryan says food served in prisons is another major concern for prisoners. “Almost all prisoners said the quality of food leaves much to be desired. It has the taste of wish-wash and many do not eat it.” Many organizations that have examined food in prisons have not registered complaints about food quality. Besides, we have never received any written complaints,” says Mr Hambardzumyan. Overcrowding is another serious problem in prisons and the official says they are already taking measures to solve the problem.
