According to official statistics, there are currently 4,530 individuals serving time in Armenia’s jails and prisons, institutions with a maximum capacity rate of 4,400.

ARF MP Artzvik Minasyan says that the government spends, on average, 110,000 AMD, to house feed and clothe each of them per month. 7 billion has been earmarked in Armenia’s 2011 national budget for prisons and prisoner incarceration.

MP Minasyan argues that from a cost perspective and in terms of rehabilitation, it’s high time for Armenia to seriously look at alternative sentencing such as community service and house arrest.

He argues that prisons, especially overcrowded ones, just serve to increase rates of recidivism.

Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan replied by saying that the government only spends 19,500 AMD per prisoner, an amount much lower than international rates.

Minister Tovmasyan noted that a new “state of the art” detention facility would be completed in Armavir by 2013.

Construction had begun in 2008 but was halted due to lack of state financing.