Georgia made progress in preventing ill-treatment of people in police custody, but prison overcrowding undermines the efforts made to create “a humane penitentiary system,” the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said in a report.

The report was made following a CPT delegation visit to Georgia in March-April 2007.

One particular positive outcome of the on-going reform of the penitentiary system, according to the report, was the clampdown on corruption.

“However, the steep increase in the prison population, which has more than doubled since the CPT’s previous periodic visit in 2004, and the ensuing prison overcrowding undermine the efforts made to create a humane penitentiary system,” it said.

At the main pre-trial facility, prison number 5 in Tbilisi, living space per prisoner was frequently below 0.5 m², according to the report.

The CPT also pointed out that the provision of health care to prisoners remains problematic, “due to the shortage of staff, facilities and resources.”

The CPT report was made public on October 25, after the Georgian government authorized to publicize it.

Meanwhile, three influential human rights groups - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Penal Reform International – called on the Georgian authorities on October 25 to immediately “act to end torture and ill-treatment in detention centers.”

The groups have also pointed out that no charges have been brought against any of the law enforcement officers that carried out the special operation in the prison number 5 in Tbilisi on March 27, 2007 which resulted into death of seven inmates.

“The March 27 investigations are taking too long, raising concerns about the authorities’ commitment to uncover the truth,” Holly Cartner, director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said. “Victims, their family members, and the public have a right to know what happened during the alleged March 27 prison riot and to know who will be held accountable for the deaths and ill-treatment of the detainees.”