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GEORGIA / JUVENILE JUSTICE
STORY: GEORGIA / JUVENILE JUSTICE
TRT: 2.40
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 27 APRIL 2010, TBLISI, GEORGIA
1. Various shots, boys outside penitentiary building
2. Various shots, boys playing football
3. Various shots, boys learning computer skills
4. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Juvenile Offender:
“I’m very interested and I’m eager to learn. I realized it better after coming here. I want to learn myself, no-one forces me to.”
5. Various shots, boys repairing computers
6. Various shots, young offenders working at computers
7. Various shots, young girl offenders in sewing classes
8. Various shots, girls in special room for study
9. Med shot, girls in separate living quarters
10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Female Juvenile Offender:
”It’s good that we have this room now. We’re better off now we no longer three of us live together. I have great hopes and dreams about changing my life. I’m very sorry about my mistakes.”
11. Various shots, probation officers.
12. Various shots, female probationers in group therapy session
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Juvenile Offender:
”If I could go back in time I would change one thing; I would not have done what I did.”
14. Various shots, children playing outside penitentiary centre
This is the Educational Establishment for Juveniles of the Penitentiary Department, a prison for underage male offenders in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
The Establishment houses 153 boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. It has been targeted in a reform of the juvenile justice sector undertaken by the Government of Georgia and UNICEF and supported by the European Union.
Rehabilitation of young offenders and their reintegration into society is a crucial aspect of the reform.
SOUNDBITE (Russian), Juvenile Offender:
“I’m very interested and I’m eager to learn, I realized it better after coming here. I want to learn myself, no one forces me to.”
This young boy and his peers can now take part in vocational learning programs and study video editing, computer maintenance and repair, animation, web design and hairdressing.
Academic education for young offenders here has also been upgraded and classrooms have been refurbished and equipped.
Underage girls who are serving sentences in Tbilisi’s Women’s Prison No 5 have also benefited from the reform.
They're learning practical skills like dressmaking and hairdressing. A room was specially equipped with computers and other essentials as a place for the girls to study and spend free time.
And they now have living quarters which are separated from the adult residents, in line with international standards.
SOUNDBITE (Russian), Juvenile Offender:
“It’s good we have this room now. Of course we are better now that only three of us live together rather than all of us. I have great hopes and dream about changing my life so that I don’t have such moments any more. I’m very sorry about my mistakes.”
Under the reform project, all staff in institutions dealing with juvenile offenders has been trained in child rights and child sensitivity.
Strengthening alternatives to detention is another vital part of the reform.
At the Tbilisi probation office, young people are helped by probation officers, through group work and in individual sessions with a psychologist hired to work exclusively with them.
Most children who take part in the probation system’s restorative gesture program have recognized the the impact of their crime on themselves and others.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Juvenile Offender:
“If I could return the time I would change one thing: I would not commit what I committed.”
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