Sanitary Conditions for Nearly 3,000 Prisoners Improved in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek. December 2012. The State Prison Service of the Kyrgyz Republic is completing the reconstruction and renovation of bath and laundry facilities in four of its prisons. With these new facilities, the Prison Service will be able to provide 2,777 prisoners with better sanitary conditions.

The refurbishment work has been finished in Prison No. 1 in Moldovanovka, in Prison No. 16 in Belovodsk and in Prison No. 47 in Bishkek. In Prison No. 8 in the village of Petrovka the new showers and laundry rooms will be ready by February next year. "As a result of our partnership with the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, we are now in a much better position to maintain hygiene in these four prisons", said Mr. Kalmurat Baitoloev, Deputy Chairperson of the State Prison Service.

The bath and laundry facilities have been renovated with financial assistance provided by the European Union within the framework of the EU/UNODC project 'Support to Prison Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic'. "The improved sanitary infrastructure is expected to have a positive impact on on the standard of living in the four prisons targeted", noted Ambassador Chantal Hebberecht of the European Union Delegation to Kyrgyzstan. "The European Union fully supports these efforts of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, which contribute to the promotion of the detainees' human rights", she added.

In total, nearly 700,000 EUR or 43 million KGS have been allocated for the construction and renovation of the bath and laundry facilities. Water wells, water supply and sewage systems have also been refurbished. In prison No. 47, heating has been installed in one of the prisoner dormitories.