Singing and dancing mandatory?
"A1+" received an open letter addressed to RA Deputy Chief of Police Hovhannes Hunanyan from "Vardashen" Penitentiary. The letter presents the protest of nearly 100 prisoners.
In their letter, the prisoners state that the deputy chief of police, who is also chairman of the penitentiary's independent committee on the conditional-premature release of prisoners, "deprives thousands of prisoners from the opportunity for premature release with a swift move of his hand".
"If not us, then at least inform the representatives of the social-psychological service of "Vardashen" Penitentiary about the standards that your committees apply so that they won't be surprised every time they note that "the prisoner has been corrected and there is no longer a need for punishment" or whenever they receive the committee's denial," as stated in the letter.
According to the authors of the open letter, the "independent committees on conditional-premature release and replacement of the part that wasn't served with a more extenuating punishment" are not really doing anything. Prisoners say until then the release of many detainees was conditional and premature according to the existing laws. After 2006, the existing laws were ignored and all penitentiaries had heavy schedules.
"What's strange and incomprehensible is that certain members of the so-called "independent" committee reject the appeals of prisoners that are considered "corrected" after daily contacts with the penitentiaries' social-psychological-legal divisions involved in the prisoners' correction and certain operations. The members reject them without taking into account the penitentiary administration's official conclusion and the standards prescribed by any law," as stated in the open letter.
The prisoners also state that this also offends the penitentiary administration since the fruits of their work are erased with a pen and the premature release of "corrected" prisoners is impeded.
The prisoners have tried to appeal to the court with this, but have found out that the courts don't take such cases.
The 100 prisoners demand specification of the independent committees' standards. "For instance, can the ability to sing and dance be applied as a standard, despite the fact that flipping a coin heads or tails can be considered as a standard as well?"
