By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on January 8, Tsovinar Tadevosyan was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Justice’s Penitentiary Service. Iravaban.net spoke with Tsovinar Tadevosyan about the problems in penitentiary institutions, reforms, and the role of women in such positions.

– You are the first female head of the Penitentiary Service in the history of independent Armenia. Please tell us how you received the offer for this appointment, and was there any hesitation before accepting the offer?

– I received the offer from the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in mid-December 2024. I definitely did not accept the offer immediately; at first, there was a lot of hesitation. My first response was: I don’t think it’s possible at this moment, but later, when that emotional background subsided and I started thinking more rationally about it, I realized – why not? With my experience, professional skills, and vision, I can perform my service in this position as well and thereby increase the effectiveness of this service.

– How did your family members and close ones react when you told them that you had received an offer to be appointed to this position?

– I didn’t tell my family members and relatives about the offer. I didn’t tell them because I thought it would put additional pressure on me. I wanted to understand for myself how I was responding to it internally, and I thought the outside noise would prevent me from understanding that. I also didn’t want to create unnecessary tension for both my family and relatives. My family members learned about this when I went to meet with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. Only after that, in the evening, did I tell them that there was such an offer, that I had met with the Prime Minister, and that such a change might happen in the coming days. I also told my friends that same day, with the idea that they shouldn’t learn about it from the media. I had a long conversation with my family about this topic. Of course, they didn’t accept it unequivocally; they expressed various fears, but the emotional responses have passed now.

– Until now, have there been instances where you regretted this decision?

– No, there haven’t been. I think that by being here at this moment, I can make serious changes. Of course, not alone, but with the team I’m working with now, who share my ideas, my values, and vision.

– You are a psychologist by profession. How much does your profession help you in this position now?

– I am a psychologist-criminologist by profession. I completed my bachelor’s degree with a specialization in psychology, and my master’s degree with a specialization in criminology. My entire career has been related to this field. Initially, I worked in a non-governmental organization that also had connections with the criminal field, then I continued my work at the National Bureau of Expertise of the National Academy of Sciences as a forensic psychologist. For 5 years, I also conducted examinations of persons who had committed crimes, and then a very logical continuation was being the head of the Social-Psychological and Legal Work Department of the Penitentiary Service for another 4 years. The National Bureau of Expertise was a very important school for me in terms of professional development. It was work with a very dense and complex schedule, also very difficult emotionally. We were dealing with the fates of individuals.

– What difficulties or obstacles did you encounter during your first days of work at the Penitentiary Service?

– I didn’t encounter obstacles as such. In reality, the team of the Penitentiary Service was very professional in this regard. We easily overcame all difficulties together. The hardest thing in this story has been the reactions coming from society, my emotional changes related to that, while everyone in the Penitentiary Service was very willing to help, which helped me adapt more easily to my status.

– Nevertheless, a significant portion of the workers here are men, and the heads of Penitentiary Institutions are also men, with the exception of “Abovyan” PI. How did they accept your appointment?

– There hasn’t been any difficulty in this aspect either. Of course, everyone can have very different opinions about a female leader, especially in this field. But in terms of our work, there has never been any obstacle. First of all, this was because we had already worked together for many years. We have worked a lot with the heads of PIs; there haven’t been many difficulties. Of course, I’ve heard many conversations where various individuals (not talking about PI leaders) have expressed their dissatisfaction in different places. But I think this is normal too. I was born in this society, I know this society’s attitude towards female leaders, and in this case – a female leader plus the head of a power structure. The best thing about this story is that no obstacles have arisen in our work process.

– Have you heard the reactions of detained and or arrested persons regarding your appointment?

– There have been many positive reactions. When I go to PIs, I talk with persons deprived of liberty. They congratulate me, say kind words. They have a lot of hope that there will be positive changes in their lives. These reactions are also very warming and motivating. Of course, some of them are also people I have frequently met with in the past, we’ve had long conversations. As for negative reactions, I haven’t received any.

– How would you describe your leadership style?

– Perhaps as collaborative. I love teamwork and am convinced that the effectiveness of any work depends on how well the leader is able to choose the right people who can handle specific processes.

– Ms. Tadevosyan, this year alone, the Penitentiary Service has reported three cases where the body of a detained person was found in a cell. Cases of self-harm are also not few. What problems exist, why do detained persons resort to this extreme step, what measures are being taken to prevent such cases?

– First, I want to make a very important emphasis regarding the prevention of such cases. Psychology and my work experience have also allowed me to conclude that you need to set more realistic plans for yourself. In this regard, in all countries of the world, this exists in penitentiary institutions, that persons in the institution, due to certain issues, are more prone to commit self-harm, more prone to commit suicide. This is also due to being in a closed space and also a very stressful and uncomfortable situation for them. One of the reasons is also the number of people with psychological problems in penitentiary institutions. I don’t want to connect all the reasons with a person’s mental health, but we have also come to this conclusion from our studies in recent years. We have been maintaining statistics on self-harming persons for three years now and have noticed such a pattern that more than 50 percent of self-harm is carried out by about 20 persons. That is, when we talk about numbers, they are very large, but when we try to understand how many people are involved, we realize that we have about 20 vulnerable individuals who very often self-harm. They do it for various reasons; according to our studies, the main reason is issues related to their health, which have both objective and subjective foundations. Regarding suicides, we fortunately did not have any cases in 2024, but this year we already have several cases, which is very problematic for us. With these cases as well, I don’t want to target, but in any case, we were again dealing with persons who had mental health-related issues. Now we are in active cooperation with the Ministry of Health to provide more effective medical care to these individuals. There are also plans for persons with mental issues to undergo inpatient treatment in specialized mental health centers.

– We talked about medical care. We often receive alerts from convicts, their advocates, that detained and convicted persons are not receiving proper medical care, and there are no appropriate care services. What shortcomings exist here, what steps are being taken?

– You know that the medical field is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health; we have the corresponding “Penitentiary Medical Center” SNCO, which deals with the medical issues of persons deprived of liberty. There are both problems and improvements that need to be noted. I think there is a certain subjectivism regarding the medical field because if we refer to psychology and analyze from that perspective, this field is the most sensitive issue for people, meaning their health is the most sensitive. Improvements are also expected in this field. We are going to reopen a 100-bed section in “Armavir” PI, which will be equipped with quality medical services and technical means.

– Although steps are being taken to improve the detention conditions of detained persons, for example, “Abovyan” PI has been completely renovated, there are many alerts and complaints about detention conditions. Are detained persons in Armenia kept in conditions that comply with international standards?

– At this moment, renovation works are being carried out in almost all PIs. If, for example, we talk about “Abovyan” PI, we can state that they fully comply with international standards; this is not only our assessment but also the assessment of our international partners. In contrast, if we talk about “Nubarashen” PI, those conditions mostly do not comply with international standards; we have serious problems here.

Despite the major problems, we are trying to solve small, local issues with renovations, taking into account the fact that people are still being kept there at that moment. No matter how much we talk about closing the PI, we still don’t have clear deadlines related to it, and we are trying to make certain changes. We are doing the same type of renovation work in institutions that are not subject to closure. Since last year, we have been carrying out renovation works in “Vanadzor” PI, we have built a bathroom. Extensive renovation works have been carried out in “Artik” PI. Renovation works are also continuing in “Armavir” PI at this moment. There is this movement in almost all institutions. In “Vardashen” PI, we renovated cells intended for foreign citizens. We are trying to distribute our resources correctly, make a correct assessment of needs to understand which one is a priority. I want to emphasize that there are renovations being done by the persons deprived of liberty themselves. They receive money and also ensure their engagement.

– We know that PIs have adopted the idea of resocialization. Is this goal being fully met, and if not, what shortcomings exist here?

– Let me emphasize again regarding the word “fully,” that it is impossible to implement it fully, and of course, we try to set these goals realistically. We have very serious achievements. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on activating events, increasing educational processes. We had the opportunity, after certain legislative changes, to involve persons above 19 years of age in secondary education as well. And we are already reaping the fruits of that.

We have a person serving a life sentence who, after completing secondary education, has now applied to a university and is studying. We have reached the stage where we need to put emphasis on work. In cooperation with the Council of Europe, from last year, we had a training and production space for furniture making in “Sevan” penitentiary institution. We are already doing certain work; we are waiting for legal regulations so that it is used not only for educational purposes but also for production. Those persons deprived of liberty who have passed the training phases and already have certain skills and abilities, they will be involved in our technical and economic work and will make certain furniture for the internal needs of the institution. Now our partners from the CoE have allocated more money for this aspect, and we already have a decision on which PI we will establish more productions in. In “Artik” PI, we will establish a European doors and windows production workshop, in “Vanadzor” PI, we will establish a welding production, and next to the furniture production workshop of “Sevan” PI, we will establish a welding production workshop. I think this will bring great activity to PIs and will solve many, many problems. This will be a very important process from the perspective of resocialization, and these individuals will be able to use these skills later to have financial improvement. I hope that we will implement it successfully; this will be a new word in PIs and will also solve a very important problem, there will be a change in attitude towards work. When we were talking years ago about the influence of criminal subculture and that as a result, persons did not go to certain work, were not involved in work processes, and also in educational processes, now we can state that we don’t have any problem in this regard either, and the influence on these types of actions is zero.

– After presenting all this, a question arose: do you imagine a Republic of Armenia where there are no prisons?

– Since I am very rational in my thinking, probably not, I don’t imagine that such a thing could happen. For me, it sounds a bit utopian. There are types of crimes that are not perceived correctly from the perspective of social justice. Of course, there are countries where prisons are being closed, but our society is still far from all that.

– In your opinion, will these reforms contribute to preventing people from committing repeat offenses after leaving PIs?

– Our studies from last year testified that we have 50 percent or more repeat offenses in PIs. That is, of those persons who were convicted and were in PIs, about half of them had been convicted before. This is a very concerning reality. The work that we are doing and plan to do in the future, we hope, will reduce the statistical data on repeat offenses.

– Almost every day, a message is published about finding prohibited items in packages. What toolkit are you fighting this with?

– We certainly know that we have a huge number of packages, and the quantity also leads to the fact that in many cases, prohibited items and objects are transferred to persons deprived of liberty through packages. Recently, we organized special equipment training for PI employees. In “Armavir” PI, we will install new generation equipment that will completely exclude the infiltration of prohibited items into the PI. The human factor will also decrease, as well as corruption risks. I hope we will be able to acquire this equipment. The removal of this quantity of prohibited items is good on one hand, but on the other hand, it’s a signal that we have serious problems here.

– There are cases when prohibited items reach penitentiary institutions through PI employees themselves. How do you work with such cases?

– These are mainly operational information about various persons. Unfortunately, we recently had a similar case in “Vanadzor” PI; the person is now detained. Of course, this is a sad fact, but if we are realistic, we will understand that this is also characteristic of PIs. These discoveries will also be a deterrent for the rest of the employees.

– Are there privileged individuals in penitentiary institutions, and if yes, how are you going to fight against it?

– Recently, I was at an event in “Armavir” penitentiary institution, and in my speech, I noted that if there are privileged individuals, they will be those people who are in the process of resocialization. In other words, they are those people who have shaken the hand extended by the state and are moving according to the rules of conduct established by the state; their privilege is given by the code, by the state. Let me say that in recent years, there has been a great struggle in PIs. First, the furnishing of those cells has been stopped. The processes of independently renovating a cell have been stopped for several years now. Of course, there are still cells that have a different appearance. These cells have been evaluated by us, and we will also bring them to the appearance of the rest of the cells. Last year, furniture was removed from “Vanadzor” PI that did not meet the standards of the PI. We are continuously in the process and showing individuals that we don’t recognize any authority except the authority of the state.

– Naturally, you closely cooperate with the Ministry of Justice. How do the two female leaders cooperate?

– In my assessment, very effectively. We both respond very quickly to issues. No obstacles arise, and responding quickly is very important.

– Since we are conducting the interview within the framework of a month dedicated to women’s holidays, I would like to ask you to talk about the role and place of women. In your opinion, where is a woman’s place? Also, how important do you consider the involvement of women in leadership positions in PIs?

– A woman’s place is where she wants to be. This is very important; if a woman really imagines herself in the kitchen and enjoys it, then… not only a woman’s, but a person’s place is where the person feels good. When I started working in the Penitentiary Service, a thought arose that if there are many women in PIs, the institutions will be more civilized. Recently, a publication was made that the leaders of PIs complained that they cannot speak with profanity to the head of the service, and this was presented with a negative emphasis. I consider this a very important achievement. The involvement of women is a certain deterrent in terms of having an impact on these kinds of customs. I am, of course, far from gendering; in the end, everything comes from the person. Heghine Martirosyan, the head of “Abovyan” PI, told me that after her appointment, profanity also decreased among women.

– On March 8, you completed 2 months in office. How would you assess these two months?

– Difficult, but also strengthening and giving optimistic hopes.

Let’s note that as of March 7, there are 2,759 detained and convicted persons in the 10 penitentiary institutions of the Republic of Armenia. 1,457 are detained, 1,302 are convicted. Of them, 71 are women, 3 are minors or individuals with the status of a minor, that is, persons under 21 years of age. Of them, 45 are detained, 29 are convicted. Of the minors, two are convicts, 1 is detained.

Hasmik Sargsyan

Photos by Lusine Hakobyan