Citizens sentenced to imprisonment have the same right to medical care as citizens of the Republic of Armenia, as stipulated by Article 38 of the RA Constitution. However, the procedure for exercising this right differs significantly, since convicts are held in penitentiary institutions of the Republic of Armenia, where the regime requirements are stipulated.

Every citizen of the Republic of Armenia, according to the Constitution, has the right to receive medical care and medical services in the RA medical institutions. This provision is also reflected in the RA Criminal Executive Code, dated 24.12.2004 (hereinafter CEC RA).

According to Part 1 of Article 83 of the RA CEC, the convicted person shall be provided medical-sanitary assistance.  According to part 2 of the same article of the RA CEC, a medical correctional facility is organized for the inmate in order to effectively provide medical-sanitary and therapeutic-preventive assistance.

As for part 3 of the same article of the RA CEC, it establishes the obligation for the administration of the correctional institution to ensure the implementation of sanitary and hygienic measures to protect the health of the prisoner.  Otherwise, the administration will be held liable for failure to implement or improper implementation of sanitary and hygienic measures (Part 4 of Article 83 of the RA CCP).

Similar norms are also contained in the RA Law “On the Detention of Detained and Arrested Persons” of 06.02.2002.

The Armenian society should be aware that the level of medical care in penitentiary institutions indirectly affects the health of society as a whole, in particular the staff and their families. First of all, we are talking, of course, about infectious diseases, among which tuberculosis should be recognized as the most widespread. In this regard, the health status of persons sentenced to imprisonment cannot be overlooked.

Besides the above-mentioned legal provisions, the Armenian legislator reflects this right of the convicts also in the RA Law “On medical care and services to the population” of 04.03.1996, and to be more precise, in Article 12 of that RA Law.

In accordance with international recommendations, the protection of the health of convicts means humane detention conditions, including a balanced diet, access to clean fresh air, sanitary and hygienic conditions, clean and tidy premises, heating, bedding, basic necessities and hygiene items, the possibility to walk, etc.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (1955) set out the basic legal framework for the protection of the health of persons in places of detention.

Indeed, everyone, regardless of their social status, has an inalienable right to health care, which is accompanied by a corresponding duty. In particular, the Armenian legislator has obliged the convicts to observe the rules of personal and general hygiene (Article 13(1)(3) of the CEC).

The Armenian State guarantees that, regardless of the convicts’ consent or refusal, they may not act as “guinea pigs”, i.e. they may not be subjected to medical, scientific or other experiments, nor may they be used for testing medicines or applying new diagnostic, preventive and treatment methods for diseases in Armenia.

But at the same time, the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation has a gap with respect to regulating the legal status of convicts with diseases. The Armenian legislator rarely takes into account the type of the disease and other individual characteristics of convicts, which leads to the infringement of the rights of persons sentenced to imprisonment.