Crime Rate Nearly Doubles in Armenia’s Prisons
Crimes committed by convicts and detained persons have nearly doubled in Armenia’s ten prisons, up from 155 in 2022 to 302 in 2023.
194 of the 302 crimes took place at the Armavir prison in the town of Vagharshapat.
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that most of these crimes involve bribery, drug use or trafficking, and weapon making/possession. The number of correctional officers accused of assisting them in committing crimes has also increased.
The total number of inmates, including pre-trial detainees, in Armenia on January 31, 2023 numbered 2,128 (97.1% males) according to the Council of Europe’s SPACE/2022 report that looks at penal institutions and prison populations in CoE member states.
The country’s Anti-Corruption Criminal Court is investigating a case in which a security staffer at the Vanadzor prison attempted to smuggle narcotics into the unit so that a prisoner could sell them. In another case, a security staffer at the Armavir penitentiary accepted a bribe in return for turning a blind eye to a prisoner having a cell phone with internet access.
Armenia’s Prosecutor General Prosecutor’s Office reports that violations committed by prison staffers mostly involve receiving bribes or illegal drug trafficking. Eleven prison staffers were investigated in 2023 for wrongdoing, up from eight the previous year.
