The protection of the rights of prisoners with special needs is in the focus of the Ombudsman

The protection of the prisoners, including prisoners with special needs, is the focus of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan. For this reason, the National Preventive Mechanism group members (NPG) conduct regular monitoring in penitentiaries, hold private meetings with detained persons, listen to their requests, and investigate their appeals.   

By the instructions of the Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, the next visits have been conducted to the Female Penal Colony No. 4, as well as the Medical Institution under the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice.

In the course of the visits, private talks were held with 42 prisoners with special needs, whose appeals were listened to in the presence of the NPG doctor member and psychologist, and the appeals of some of them addressed to the Ombudsman were accepted for further investigation. 

The concerns of those prisoners, particularly about the suspending of pension benefits and allowances for the disability and problems encountered in re-determination of the disability, provision with health services and drugs, and other similar issues were responded to in accordance with the law, their rights, eligibility criteria for pardoning under the law, as well as the competences of the Ombudsman, were explained. 

The prisoners thanked the Ombudsman for her care, support, and attention to solve their problems.

Along with the prisoners with special needs, in the frame of the monitoring, the NPG team also met with the female prisoners with dependents under the age of three, as well as juveniles, and investigated the treatment and detention conditions in those facilities.

At the end of the visits, the management of facilities was given recommendations with the aim of improving the detention conditions and strengthening the care for ensuring the rights of the persons with disabilities, the right to health, in particular.