Karen Andreasian Hides Half the Truth: Some Employees Will Be Jobless Due to Prison Closures

The operations of the ‘Kosh’ and ‘Hrazdan’ correctional facilities will be halted. According to Minister of Justice Karen Andreasian, the closure of these facilities will save 1.2 billion AMD in 2022. He stated, ‘This is not just a project about saving money; it is an important beginning for reforming the prison sector. After closing these two facilities, we will have 10 prisons, and by improving their conditions, we will be able to address human rights issues. We have 5,346 places available for holding convicted individuals, and only 2,113 of these are currently occupied.’ This information was reported by Hraparak.am.

As a result of the closure of the two prisons, 280 positions will be cut. According to official information, 70 of the affected employees will be transferred to other facilities, 50 to probation services, while the rest will remain in the personnel reserve.

While Karen Andreasian proudly announces the transfer of employees to other facilities or leaving some in the personnel reserve to continue receiving salaries, we are receiving notifications that the minister is misrepresenting the reality. He does not mention Article 43 of the Law on the Penitentiary Service, which states that employees in junior group positions are not recorded in the personnel reserve. ‘Only those discharged from their positions based on the grounds specified in points 3-5 of part 1 of Article 40 of this law will be registered in the personnel reserve of the Penitentiary Service. Employees in junior group positions are not registered in the personnel reserve,’ it states.

It appears that the Minister of Justice is not fully communicating information and is leaving a particular group regarding their employment status in the shadows. We have requested written clarification from the Ministry of Justice regarding how many junior group employees there are, how many will find new jobs, and how many will remain unemployed. Today, they informed us that the response to our inquiry will likely come tomorrow.

The head of the Penitentiary Service, Sergey Atomyan, speaking with Hraparak, addressed the issue of those employees, stating, ‘At this moment, I cannot say, but we will try to place them in jobs as much as possible, either by transferring their positions to other places or filling vacant positions.’ He noted that he does not remember how many junior group employees they have. When asked whether it is possible that some of those employees will ultimately become unemployed, he stated, ‘It's possible that this may happen, but at this time, I cannot say anything conclusive. We are working to place as many people in jobs as possible.’ Atomyan also mentioned that a commission is currently being formed to address these matters.