Inmates’ voices remain trapped behind prison walls, activist says

Armenia’s prison system is facing a deepening human rights crisis, with a surge in self-harm incidents and suicides among inmates, human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan told Panorama.am on Wednesday. Her remarks came after yet another suicide reported at the Armavir Penitentiary.

“This year saw an unprecedented rise in self-harm cases in prisons,” Aleksanyan said. “While criminal investigations are formally launched after each incident, the public and even human rights defenders remain largely in the dark about their true causes.”

Aleksanyan says she receives up to four alerts a day about human rights violations in detention facilities.

"The prison system remains extremely opaque," Aleksanyan said. "We need to take a hard look at what’s happening in the country at large –– a staggering lack of oversight. Now imagine what’s happening behind the closed doors of prisons. The situation is out of control and largely ignored. Nobody cares about the lives of these people. Self-harm cases are reduced to mere statistics,” Aleksanyan said.

The activist emphasizes that criminal investigations must uncover root causes and hold perpetrators accountable to prevent future incidents.

"Prison authorities know exactly why an inmate commits suicide. Instead of speaking out to prevent future cases, they remain silent. You know, it’s not easy for someone to take their own life. It means the conditions are unbearable. I don't know whether the head of the service is fully aware of the situation or not. I’ve received reports that cellmates are pressuring each other, there are serious health issues and inmates with medical needs are not getting any help. No one pays attention to them. Their voices don’t make it past the prison walls. They file complaints repeatedly, go on hunger strikes and even then, it’s extremely difficult for them to be moved to the prison hospital. Hunger strikes have become routine for the administration,” she explained.

Aleksanyan links the spike in self-harm incidents to the broader crisis in the country’s governance.

"You’ve seen how Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gives instructions to law enforcement via Facebook. The entire system is collapsing. There is no oversight. I cannot blame only the head of the Penitentiary Service for the current situation. The justice minister only talks about constitutional amendments, clearly driven by the desire to serve the prime minister rather than improve the system. The minister is entangled in politics. The state of the country has eroded its institutions and rebuilding them will be extremely difficult. Nobody is where they should be. Soviet-era practices persist in prisons – lies, cover-ups, scapegoating prisoners for everything. How can the system change under these conditions? On top of that, the number of detainees and convicts has increased. Do you remember when Pashinyan said the prisons were empty? Well, now there’s no space left,” Aleksanyan emphasized.