The majority of suicides in correctional facilities in Armenia are linked to mental health issues
The overwhelming majority of individuals who committed suicide in Armenian correctional facilities (CFs) had mental health problems. The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Surbuhi Galyan, stated this during a briefing with journalists in the National Assembly on December 3.
The Minister answered a journalist’s question about whether the suicides were related to poor conditions in the CFs or pressure applied to the convicts. Galyan emphasized that cameras are installed in the cells of persons prone to self-harm to prevent such cases.
“We conduct accounting. For example, conditionally we have 500 cases of self-harm, but they were committed by only 30 individuals. This means we have specific individuals whose oriented behavior is to commit self-harm”.
She added that for persons with a genuine propensity for self-harm, prevention is very difficult. For this reason, following the renovation of the Nubarashen Mental Health Center, some convicts from the “Convicts’ Hospital” CF were transferred to the center to receive medical aid.
Regarding cases of humiliation towards convicts, the Minister called for such information to be sent to the Ministry in writing, assuring that they will not remain without consequences.
It should be noted that 22 deaths have already been registered in CFs this year. Human rights defender Zara Hovhannisyan points out that many convicts continue to remain in prison with serious health problems, even when their physical condition does not allow them to move independently, and the courts or professional commissions fail to assess the incompatibility of the punishment and the disease.
According to the data from the Ministry of Justice, out of 625 cases of self-harm committed by persons deprived of liberty during 2024, the reason for 126 of them was “being in a state of nervous tension, mentally unstable, unbalanced psychological state.” According to 2025 data, 261 individuals with mental health problems are kept in CFs, 180 of whom receive psychotropic drugs.