The Council of Europe continues to support the capacity development of the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) in monitoring mental health issues in the closed institutions. As part of this support a 3-day training session was held on 3-5 November 2016, with focus on mental health services in prisons.

Representatives of PDO involved in prison monitoring participated in the training that covered topics such as services addressing mental health care needs, treatment plans, therapeutic and rehabilitative psychosocial activities as well as main issues in managing prisoners with personality disorders, especially vulnerable detainees. Two acknowledged international specialists who ran the training shared their knowledge and experience with the participants and mentored them in a simulation exercise that took place in the Prison Central Hospital and Prison #8 after the classroom sessions. In the simulation, the participants could practice the monitoring techniques learned during the course and got practical guidance and advice from the international specialists. Besides, the observations from the monitoring exercise were shared also with the representatives of the Ministry of Corrections and Probation.

It is expected that as a result of the training, the PDO representatives have enhanced their skills in monitoring mental health related issues in prisons in a more professional and independent way.

The training was part of the Council of Europe’s activities in support of improving the provision of mental health in Georgian prisons and other closed institutions. It was organised within the framework of the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Cooperation Framework Project “Human Rights and Healthcare in prisons and Other Closed Institutions in Georgia II”.