Woman convicts acquired professional skills in penitentiary institution

On 7 February, the Award Ceremony of Certificates on professional skills of woman convicts took place in "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution.

Classes in the English language, computer, fitness, yoga, hairdressing, cooking were provided for more than twenty woman convicts by Civil Society Institute NGO within the scope of “Abovyan Prison: Establishing a Culture of Transparency, Efficiency and Rehabilitation” Project funded by U.S. Embassy. During the computer classes, woman convicts were also engaged in the activities of digitising books.

Head of "Abovyan" Penitentiary Institution of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Gayane Vardanyan, Head of the Department for Drafting Anti-Corruption and Penitentiary Policies of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Karen Hakobyan, Director of Civil Society Institute Artak Kirakosyan, representatives from the U.S. Embassy, professionals having conducted vocational trainings with woman convicts and others were present at the event.

Gayane Vardanyan welcomed those present and expressed her gratitude to those having supported the implementation of the Project, attaching importance to the effectiveness and sustainability of that comprehensive rehabilitation event.

Karen Hakobyan noted that the Project recorded an excellent and visible result, for which he expressed his gratitude to the staff implementing the Project, as well as to women in custody, who participated in trainings and demonstrated high activeness. Karen Hakobyan wished good luck to woman convicts and reaffirmed that the acquired knowledge will be useful, and the activeness will be appreciated in the future.

During the event, woman convicts also came up with business ideas, which they would be able to turn into reality after serving the sentence, in case of availability of the relevant funding.