Georgian MoJ convinces jail staff to live at work because of pandemic

To prevent the spread of coronavirus, 780 employees of the Georgian penitentiary system have agreed to live in jail premises until April 21, the head of the country's Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 31, Georgia imposed a general quarantine and a curfew in the country.

Due to the tightening of the state of emergency, the imposition of quarantine and curfew, the Georgian jails are switching over to a new management regime; a work model has been developed for them that is atypical for jails at normal times, Teya Tsulukiani, the head of the MoJ, said on March 30.

"We selected 780 employees, who came the day before to their workplaces in the territory of jails, where they work during their normal hours, and over the next weeks they will stay there. These 780 employees will live in the jail premises without leaving the territory, so that neither we nor the prisoners had any concern that some inspector or warden could bring the virus inside," the "Georgia Online" quotes Ms Tsulukiani saying on March 30.

These employees have voluntarily made this decision, so as not to endanger prisoners' lives, the "Sputnik-Georgia" added on March 30.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 31, 2020 at 07:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.