Today, a report on the situation within Armenian correctional facilities is being presented at the Congress Hotel in Yerevan. Arman Danielyan, President of the Civil Society Institute, and a member of the Board on Public Monitoring of Penitentiary System under the Ministry of Justice  which prepared the report, pointed out the problems existing in such facilities and gave the example of the Noubarashen Correctional Facility where 18 individuals were found locked up in one cell even though there were only 12 beds. Mr. Danielyan also touched on the recent general amnesty and how it is being implemented by the parole board created as a result of President Sargsyan's pardon. "Before the board was created some 90% of inmates received some sort of early parole but now the number has dropped to 10%," he said, adding, "The decisions of the board are questionable to say the least. They reject parole requests with any explanation and inmates have no clue as to how to act or what to say to get released early." Mr. Danielyan also claimed that physical beating was used as a punitive measure in some jails but that such incidents were difficult to expose. We will publish details of the 2008 report as soon as they are made available to the press.