DUSHANBE, July 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Prison conditions in Tajikistan are now much better than prison conditions in neighboring countries, the Deputy Justice Minister, Azizmat Imomov, remarked at a press conference in Dushanbe on July 23.    

According to him, practically all detention facilities of Tajikistan have farms run by them, which allow verifying daily meal rations of inmates. 

“As a whole, all penitentiary facilities in the country are in good state and funds provided by the budget for improvement of prison conditions increase year in,” said the deputy minister said, “Only pretrial detention facilities in Khujand and Kulob that had been constructed in the 1930s already are in poor state; however, I believe this problem will be tackled in the near future as well.”   

Imomov noted that more detailed information about the penal system of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will be given at the separate press service that will be held in Dushanbe in the near future.  

According to the MoJ penal system, 14 penitentiary facilities now function in the country.  According to the Supreme Court, 3,105 people have been convicted of different crimes in the country over the first six months of this year.