A prisoner said he was beaten by the head of the prison in Rustavi, south of Tbilisi, on September 19. The photo shows Gldani, where the filmed abuse took place. (IPN.)

TBILISI, DFWatch – The first new story of prisoner abuse has surfaced after President Saakashvili began a major shakeup of Georgia’s prison system.

The attempt at “resetting” the prison reform comes after a wave of criticism following several videos showing prisoners being beaten and abused by staff.

There has been a change of supervisers at the Penitentiary Ministry and many prison staff have been arrested for torture.

But the new instance of abuse involved the head of a prison beating one of the prison inmates, according to a lawyer working for Goderdzi Kiknadze.

Lawyer Eka Kobesashvili says that Kiknadze, who is presently serving time in Prison Number 6 in Rustavi, talks of how David Margebadze, the former head of prison, beat him on September 19.

Kobesashvili says Kiknadze was not talking about his beating yesterday, because the prison administration promised him some medical assistance. The lawyer added that Kiknadze demands to let journalists into his cell and show everyone his health condition.

“Goderdzi Kiknadze’s health condition is very bad. He has a brain concussion, he was under strong psychological pressure, in order not to leak the information that convict has. If applicable, his parent will submit the information. A doctor visited Goderdzi Kiknadze, but did not detected injury.Yesterday, the prison administration ordered not to allow the Public Deffender’s Office into the building,” said the lawyer.