Prisons and colonies in Russia

Crime in Russia

Main article: Crime in Russia

Prison medicine

Main article: Prison medicine

2024: "Everyone left for SVO." Only 15 convicts remained in the colony in the Urals

On October 14, 2024, it became known that in Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk Region, the authorities could close the colony-settlement due to the lack of prisoners. We are talking about correctional institution No. 59, in which, as of the specified date, only 15 convicts remained. Read more here

2023

FSIN: In 2022-2023 there were no escapes from the colonies

Since 2022, no escapes from correctional colonies have been recorded in the Russian Federation, said Arkady Gostev, director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), in mid-June 2024.

At the end of 2022-2023, there were no escapes at all. In 2023, unfortunately, one was from the pre-trial detention center, but was detained almost for a week, "he said at the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the creation of the penal protection service.[1]

Overcrowding in Moscow pre-trial detention centers decreased from 22% to 5.9%

Overcrowding in Moscow pre-trial detention centers by the end of 2023 decreased to 5.9% from 22% a year earlier. The Commissioner for Human Rights of the capital Tatyana Potyaeva cited such data at the end of December 2023.

The FSIN press service confirmed these figures to Kommersant and explained that it was possible to reduce the number of people held in the Moscow pre-trial detention center thanks to the transfer of citizens to isolation wards in other regions. So, in 2023, more than 6 thousand people were redistributed from the pre-trial detention center in Moscow. At the same time, all Moscow insulators are designed, according to human rights activists, for 9 thousand people).

Lefortovo pre-trial detention center

In agreement with the courts, convicts registered with the courts of appeal, as well as persons whose criminal cases were considered in the court of first instance, awaiting an order to enter into force of the court's verdict, are transferred from the Moscow pre-trial detention center to the disposal of other territorial bodies of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, which have conditions for their placement, the department noted.

Member of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Moscow, General Director of the Center for Assistance to the Development of the Penitentiary System Sergei Aristov, in a conversation with the publication, stressed that many displaced from the capital to regional pre-trial detention centers are deprived of the possibility of frequent meetings with the defender. The work to reduce the length of stay in the pre-trial detention center is still invisible, Aristov said. In his opinion, the issue of overcrowding in pre-trial detention centers can be resolved only by expanding the practice of applying alternative preventive measures.

On December 16, 2023, the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia Arkady Gostev said that there is overcrowding in the pre-trial detention center in 13 regions, including Moscow. As of November 1, 2023, there were more than 105 thousand people in the pre-trial detention center, although at the same date last year this figure was 112.8 thousand people.^[2]

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation approved the rules for the destruction of drones in the territories of colonies, pre-trial detention centers and prisons

On December 11, 2023, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation approved the rules for the destruction of drones in the territories of correctional institutions, pre-trial detention centers of the penal system (UIS) and the territories adjacent to them, in which regime requirements are established. In addition, a list of officials authorized to make decisions on the suppression of the functioning of unmanned aerial vehicles has been determined.

The document refers to drones of different types. These can be air, underwater and surface vessels and vehicles, unmanned vehicles and other automated unmanned systems. The new document replaces a similar order of the Ministry of Justice of November 13, 2020, which applied exclusively to air drones.

The Ministry of Justice approved the rules for the destruction of drones in secure areas

The approved document says that decisions on the destruction of drones can be made in order to "protect the life and health of citizens, UIS workers, convicts, suspects and accused in custody." It is allowed to use various methods of combating drones: this is the suppression or conversion of remote control signals for unmanned vehicles, the impact on the control panels of unmanned vehicles, as well as direct damage or destruction of drones.

The decision on the choice of one or another method of counteraction is made by the authorized official of the UIS. It is allowed to use firearms if by other means it is impossible to stop the functioning of drones on the territory of a correctional institution or pre-trial detention center. The decision to combat drones is immediately communicated to employees of security units orally. The approved measures are designed to prevent unauthorized operation of drones at sensitive facilities.^[3]

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation approved the use of drones for monitoring colonies and pre-trial detention centers

In November 2023, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation presented the procedure for the use of technical means of supervision and control in institutions of the penal system (UIS). Among other things, the document concerns the use of drones.

As explained in the Ministry of Justice, the order was prepared in order to implement the federal law adopted earlier in 2023, according to which audiovisual, electronic and other technical means of supervision and control can be used in correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centers of the UIS, if possible.

Prison Crosses in St. Petersburg

The document developed by the Ministry of Justice regulates the list of these means of supervision and control, as well as determines the procedure for their use in institutions of the penal system. The administration of pre-trial detention centers and prisons will be obliged on receipt to notify suspects, accused and convicted of the use of such technical means. These innovative technical solutions, combined into a single system, will contribute to the humanization of the conditions of detention of suspects, accused and convicted, as well as to ensuring the integrated security of UIS institutions, the ministry said.

According to Vedomosti, the appendix to the draft order, in particular, states that unmanned aircraft are used to supervise and control the prohibited zones, the internal and adjacent territories to the pre-trial detention center or colony. At the same time, it is also said that technical means are provided for suppressing or converting remote control signals for unmanned aerial, underwater and surface vessels and vehicles.

According to the lawyers interviewed by the newspaper, the new procedure is dictated by the fact that the means of electronic control are constantly being improved. There is no ban on the use of UAVs, but by purchasing them, institutions FSIN may run into problems with supervisory authorities. To prevent this from happening, the authorities decided to regulate their use, experts say.^[4]

Digital services for reading books, filing complaints and writing to a doctor have been introduced in Russian prisons

In Russian prisons, digital services have been introduced for reading books, filing complaints and writing to a doctor. This was announced on October 6, 2023 at a meeting with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, Deputy Minister of Justice Vsevolod Vukolov.

We have a law according to which we have the right to allow only to use the opportunity to buy these books [electronic] in the store, and, in addition, we in the PVR [internal regulations] allowed these books to be uploaded to electronic tablets that are not related to the Internet, - he said (quote from TASS).

Digital services for reading books introduced in Russian prisons

According to Vukolov, FSIN the opportunity to buy paper books remained in the stores of the institutions. If there is a technical possibility of individual pre-trial detention centers, citizens contained in them can be given tablets on request and upload books and materials of the criminal case into them.

Also, as the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice said, electronic terminals for complaints and doctor's notes were introduced in correctional institutions.

The introduction of electronic services took place by order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, which was released in 2022. The document is devoted to the new rules for the detention of suspects, accused and convicted. In particular, the order involves improving the communal conditions of detention of prisoners: disabled people, pregnant women and women with small children will be able to shower daily, and when installing bathrooms, privacy will be ensured.

Significant attention in the new rules is paid to the issue of providing medical care to prisoners. Suspects, defendants and convicts will be able to get acquainted with medical documentation, receive medical extracts and purchase medicines with their subsequent storage with them.

In addition, the new rules provide for the possibility of conducting a search using special technical means. Screens will be installed in the premises for searches.^[5]

The FSIN Penitentiary Service named the number of convicts involved in work in companies. In a year, there are three times more of them

By August 10, 2023, 26 thousand convicts to forced labor were involved in work in 1.7 thousand organizations, and several thousand convicts to colonies-settlements were also employed in companies. How much exactly is not specified. In 2022, there were 9.3 thousand such people. Such data are provided by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).

There are no problems with the employment of those convicted of forced labor. The labor of those convicted of forced labor is in great demand among employers - by the end of 2022, the labor coverage of such convicts was 99%, the department said.

26 thousand convicts to forced labor are involved in work in 1.7 thousand organizations

They also noted that thanks to amendments to the legislation, since 2020, enterprises have had the opportunity to create correctional centers in the format of hostels for those convicted of forced labor. From October 2023, changes will come into force to attract such convicts to work from individual entrepreneurs.

The FSIN called those convicted of forced labor "a constant, disciplined labor force that is under supervision and control." According to the department, they are involved in work in various industries, depending on the existing specialty.

In March 2023, the FSIN announced the creation of 367 correctional centers for 40 thousand convicts. According to the Ministry of Justice, more than half of such sites are located directly at enterprises. By 2024, it is planned to increase the number of places in correctional centers to 80 thousand people.

The FSIN assured that the purpose of attracting convicts to work is not to make a profit, and in such a practice the prison department sees "only a means of correcting them and the most important element of their labor education and vocational training." It is argued that those convicted of forced labor are brought to work in accordance with labor legislation, but "with the exception of the rules for hiring, dismissal from work, transfer to another job, refusal to perform work, and granting vacations."^[6]

2022

The number of complaints of torture in Russian prisons has decreased

The number of appeals to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova about the use of torture and other illegal methods of obtaining evidence from the accused and convicted in 2022 decreased. This became known in mid-May 2023.

According to Interfax with reference to the annual report on the activities of the Ombudsman, Moskalkova in 2022 received 47 complaints about the use of torture by law enforcement officers (in 2021 - 66), 56 - for the use of illegal methods of obtaining evidence, including falsifications and the use of unacceptable evidence (in 2021 - 68), 16 - on the psychological impact in the form of refusal to meet and telephone conversations with relatives (in 2021 - 19), and another 49 complaints about violation of official ethics by officials of law enforcement agencies and courts (in 2021 - 55). In 2022, the Ombudsman managed to restore the rights of two people who applied on this topic.

The number of complaints of torture in Russian prisons has decreased

In 2022, a law was adopted to toughen the punishment to 15 years in prison for torture. The reason for this was the situation in the Russian colonies in the fall of 2021 after the publication on YouTube of a video about sexual violence and torture of convicts in the Saratov region. The RF IC opened a number of criminal cases, and the head of the FSIN, Alexander Kalashnikov, resigned against this background.

This gave its results. We received fewer appeals this year on this topic, but there are a significant number of complaints related to the conditions of detention, - said Tatyana Moskalkova during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 15, 2023.

He also clarified that in 2022, eight constituent entities of the Russian Federation recorded complaints about overcrowding and the lack of conditions to ensure proper medical support.^[7]

No one escaped from the pre-trial detention center and colonies

In 2022, no one escaped from Russian pre-trial detention centers and colonies for the first time. This was announced by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) on March 13, 2023.

In 2022, for the first time in the modern history of the penal system, not a single escape of prisoners from correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers was allowed, - said the head of the FSIN Arkady Gostev, specifying that this was achieved thanks to the coordinated actions of the personnel of the department.

For the first time in the history of Russia in a year, 0 escapes from pre-trial detention centers and colonies were committed

The director of the FSIN recalled that one of the main tasks of the service is to ensure the proper level of protection and law enforcement in institutions of the penal system (UIS), to strengthen the regime of serving sentences. He also stated that "as a result of the measures taken, the number of crimes committed in UIS institutions decreased by almost 28%."

At the same time, according to RBC, at the end of August 2022, two convicts fled from IK-38 to Berezniki in the Perm Territory. Police and penitentiary officers detained them. As the press service of the main department of the FSIN for the Perm Territory clarified to the publication, the convicts will again be convicted, they will be given another term. Under the article on escape (Article 313 of the Criminal Code) in Russia, they give up to eight years in prison.

To search for convicts in the UIS system, the Ministry of Justice in 1998 instructed to create search units. The number of escapes of prisoners from pre-trial detention centers and colonies over 25 years has decreased 140 times, the FSIN told TASS in January 2019.

In 1994, 140 escapes from protection were made, in 2000 - 25, in 2010 - 11, in 2015 - 8, in 2016 - 5, 2017 - 2, in 2018 - 1. These statistics do not include escapes or attempts to escape from settlement colonies, where convicts are not under protection, but only under supervision.^[8]

Income of convicts increased by 14%

The average earnings of employed convicts in Russian correctional colonies in 2022 increased by 14% compared to 2021. Such data in mid-March 2023 were published in the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).

According to TASS, in 2018, convicts in the colony were paid an average of 4.8 thousand rubles a month, and by 2022 this amount almost doubled - to 9 thousand rubles. As specified in the FSIN, convicts can send their income to relatives, spend in the colony's store, but first of all, with its help, they compensate for the damage in the claims filed against them.

In 2022, the average income of a prisoner in Russia amounted to about 9 thousand rubles

The FSIN said that the service is consistently taking measures to create conditions for the employment of convicts, to improve the production and economic activities of institutions and enterprises of the penal system. Thanks to this, the share of convicts involved in paid work increased, reaching 70.5% in 2022. In 2021, the indicator was measured at 65%.

According to RIA Novosti]], "prisoners produce a variety of goods, both for the needs of the colony itself and for commercial enterprises that have nothing to do with the zone. Any organization or large budget department can order things made by prisoners. All prison products are combined into a catalog under the brand "Trading House of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia."

Most food and agricultural goods are produced - 45%, clothes and shoes - 21%. In addition, metal products are made - from flower stands, greenhouses to large equipment, machines. Wood furniture and small souvenirs are popular. Despite the high income that the FSIN brings to the work of convicts, no more than 40% of prisoners work in the colonies, the agency notes.^[9][10]

FSIN: pre-trial detention centers are 96% full

By August 2022, pre-trial detention centers in Russia were 96% full. This was reported to Kommersant by the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of the Russian Federation in response to a request for a shortage of places in the pre-trial detention center.

According to the ministry, as of August 1, 2022, 114,172 people were held in Russian pre-trial detention centers, while the isolation wards in the country were designed for a total of 118,495 detainees.

pre-trial detention centers are 96% full

The total filling limit has not been exceeded. This number is 4% less than the total filling limit, the FSIN said.

According to Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights and the POC of Moscow, who in July 2022 checked the conditions of detention of people in Matrosskaya Tishin in Moscow, the detention center is 43% overcrowded, more than 600 "extra" prisoners are held there. In the third building, where people sleep on the floor, "cameras and corridors in the fungus, black toilets, rusty pipes," the situation is especially difficult. The administration of the pre-trial detention center promises to fix the problem, but no one knows where to resettle people, the human rights activist said.

Merkacheva emphasized to the publication that the administration of the pre-trial detention center does not deny the problem of the oversupply of prisoners and promises to resettle the most filled cells. She also drew attention to the fact that employees of the Investigative Committee are arrested in cases for which house arrest was previously appointed or a recognizance not to leave.

The leadership of the pre-trial detention center cannot refuse to accept new prisoners, even if they have nowhere to resettle, Aleksey Dobrynin, managing partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association, told Kommersant. Overcrowding in the pre-trial detention center of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has been observed since 2021, he added.

The chronic overload of the pre-trial detention center in a commentary to the publication was recognized by the FSIN department in the Stavropol Territory. The FSIN Administration for the Krasnodar Territory announced that it was taking measures to prevent overcrowding in the pre-trial detention center.^[11]

FSIN wants to allow convicted IT specialists to work remotely for business

On April 27, 2022, it became known about the plans of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to allow convicted IT specialists to work remotely for business. According to the deputy head of the department , Alexander Khabarov, several regions have made such a proposal.

There are not many such specialists. We are only at the initial stage. If this is in demand, and this is most likely in demand, we think that we will not force specialists in this area to work in some other industries, "he said (quoted by TASS).

FSIN may allow convicted IT professionals to work remotely for business

As Khabarov noted, we are talking about specialists who are serving sentences in correctional centers. The deputy head of the FSIN stressed that convicts in such centers are obliged to work in any area, including this can be done in IT. According to the law, convicts in correctional centers can work within one region, but remotely they will be able to work for companies from other constituent entities of Russia, he explained.

Шаблон:Quote 'Correctional Centers imply that this is a form of punishment through correctional work. The obligation to work is point number one, - said Khabarov.

In correctional centers, sentences are being served, but the person who works there is not a prisoner in the literal sense of the word. He has a mobile phone, he can visit shops and get to work on a public, and transport not under escort. Convicts live in dormitories in correctional centers, including those located at facilities owned by businesses.

The plans of the FSIN Penitentiary Service to attract convicted IT specialists to work for commercial companies became known against the background of an acute shortage of IT specialists in Russia. At the end of April 2022, the first vice-speaker of the Federation Council, secretary of the general council of the United Russia party , Andrei Turchak, said that the Russian economy needs about 1 million IT specialists, while part of such personnel left the Russian Federation with the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine.^[12]

The minimum age of imprisonment for children is 14 years

Data for 2022

2021

The number of prisoners - 475,009 people

According to data available for 2021

334 prisoners per 100 thousand population

FSIN: 10% of prisoners are infected with HIV

According to the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), by the end of November 2021, about 50 thousand prisoners in Russia are infected with HIV infection. In total, about 459 thousand people are held in pre-trial detention centers, colonies and prisons of the country. Thus, almost 10% of those serving sentences have human immunodeficiency virus. Read more here.

Russia dropped from 3rd to 4th place in terms of the number of prisoners

Russia dropped from 3rd to 4th place in terms of the number of prisoners. This was announced on November 18, 2021 by the director of the FSIN Alexander Kalashnikov.�

According to him, by the beginning of 2021, 482 thousand convicts, suspects and accused were in Russian correctional institutions. Brazil was ahead of the Russian Federation in this indicator with 607 thousand people. The first and second places are occupied by the United States (more than 2.2 million prisoners) and China (1.65 million), respectively.

Russia dropped from 3rd to 4th place in terms of the number of prisoners

Kalashnikov noted that in comparison with 2010, the number of prisoners in Russia by the beginning of 2021 decreased by 381 thousand people. The director of the FSIN explained this by improving criminal policy and expanding the ability to apply punishments that are not related to imprisonment.

Olga Podoplelova, a lawyer for Rus Sitting, in a conversation with Kommersant, linked the reduction in the number of prisoners "largely with demographic shifts and a change in the structure of crime, the active use of probation by the courts"

Alexander Kalashnikov also cited data according to which Russia in terms of the number of prisoners per 100 thousand population in 2021 dropped to 26th place with the 20th year earlier.

Earlier, the director of the FSIN said that the number of accused held in pre-trial detention centers in Russia increased by 6439 people and as of January 1, 2021 amounted to 104,320 people with a limit of 123,156 places. The size of the sanitary area in the cells was 4.7 sq. m per person, in 2019 the area was 5.2 sq. m.^[13]

High-tech pre-trial detention centers and colonies are being created in Russia

In early December 2021, it became known about the creation Russia of high-tech pre-trial detention centers (SIZO) and colonies in high-tech pre-trial detention centers. The deputy head spoke about some of the features of such institutions. Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation Vsevolod Vukolov

Within the framework of such institutions, it will be possible to improve the conditions for conducting visits with relatives, carrying out the activities of courts, prosecutors, lawyers and public organizations, as well as automate the processes of management and admission to institutions, including using biometric data, he said in an interview with Interfax.

High-tech pre-trial detention centers and colonies are being created in Russia

When implementing this project, it is planned to concentrate all correctional institutions and a pre-trial detention center in a single center - a united type institution. A pilot project of such a modern prison will appear in the Kaluga region. In the future, according to the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice, it can be taken as a basis for the implementation of a program to create technological prisons in other regions of the country.

Digitalization will be able to help automate security and public control processes. In particular, it will allow the same human rights defenders to monitor the situation in prisons. Cameras, biometrics, digital "prints" - all this is very good and modern, - explained Vsevolod Vukolov.

He also said that the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) plans to build correctional centers throughout Russia in which convicts can work instead of serving their sentences in prison. In September, one of these centers was opened in Zelenograd. By December 2021, about 180,000 prisoners could be released into forced labor; in 2022, about 20,000 jobs will be created for them, and in 2024 the number of jobs in correctional centers in Russia should reach 80,000.^[14]

2020

In Russia, there are 519,615 convicts in prisons

In April 2021, the Council of Europe cited data according to which in Russia in 2020 there were 519,615 convicts in prisons, in 2019 - 563,166, in 2018 - 602,176. Of the CE member countries, Russia was the first in this indicator, Turkey - the second (297,019 prisoners), Great Britain - the third (82,868).

The number of convicts on charges of corruption in the Russian Federation reached 7.5 thousand people

In 2020, 7.5 thousand people were convicted in Russia on charges of corruption. This was announced by the Chairman of the Supreme Court (SC) Vyacheslav Lebedev at a meeting of judges of courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts of the Russian Federation, dedicated to summing up the results of 2020. Read more here.

29% of convicts in the Russian Federation received real terms

29% of convicts in Russia in 2020 received real sentences. Such data were published by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Russia Vyacheslav Lebedev on February 9, 2021 at a meeting of judges, summing up the results of the work of the judicial system.

According to Lebedev, 72% of those sentenced to imprisonment had prior unresolved and outstanding criminal records. In 2020, 52% of applications for the replacement of sentences with lighter types of punishment, 50% of applications for release from punishment due to the illness of convicts and 59% of applications for parole were granted.

Over the past 20 years, according to the chairman of the Supreme Court, the number of court decisions on arrest has decreased four times - from 366 thousand to almost 92 thousand in 2020. The number of people arrested compared to 2019 in 2020 decreased by 3 thousand people.

Only 29% of convicts in the Russian Federation in 2020 received real terms

At the same time, in 77% of cases, arrest was applied to persons accused of committing grave and especially grave crimes. Another 57% of them had criminal records, added Vyacheslav Lebedev.

He also cited data according to which only 9% of entrepreneurs convicted in the Russian Federation received real terms in 2020. In total, about 4,300 criminal cases on crimes in the field of entrepreneurial and economic activity in relation to 4,400 persons were considered. 62% of the accused were convicted, and in relation to 38%, the criminal prosecution was terminated by the court.

According to Lebedev, 207 applications for choosing a preventive measure in the form of detention were considered in this category of cases, of which 57% of applications were satisfied, 43% were rejected.

According to FSIN, during 2020, the number of convicts, suspects and accused in places of imprisonment for the first time became less than 0.5 million. The FSIN explained this "by the widespread use of alternative punishments, without imprisonment, and the liberalization of penal policy."^[15]

2019: Prison deaths rise to 46.6 per 10,000 inmates

Mortality in Russian prisons increased to 46.6 per 10 thousand prisoners in 2019 from 41.4 a year earlier. Such data are provided in the report on the state of national prison systems, which the University of Lausanne prepared for the Council of Europe (CoE).

As RBC writes with reference to this study, the mortality rate of the Russian prison population in 2019 was almost twice the median for the CE member countries. In total, in 2019, 2,420 prisoners died in the Russian Federation against 2,331 a year earlier.

Russia in terms of mortality is in third place among countries in which more than 10 thousand prisoners are serving sentences. The second is Portugal (mortality rate - 50 per 10 thousand prisoners), the first - Serbia (56.9).

Mortality among prisoners increases in Russia

The calculations of the University of Lausanne are based on official data obtained from prison administrations; in Russia, this is the FSIN. 48 prison administrations provided details for the report. At the same time, the university did not collect data on the concluded disputed territories, unrecognized and partially recognized states, for example, in Russia this is Crimea.

Russia was also among the leaders in terms of the duration of the average term of imprisonment: 29 months. First come Azerbaijan (32.9 months) and Portugal (30.2 months).

Russia is also one of the five countries with the largest share of women prisoners - 8.1%, or 42 thousand. For the first time, the CE also calculated the number of young children who lived in prisons with their mothers: 1 thousand 608 children in 37 countries who provided relevant data, of which 423 in Russia.

The leaders in mortality per 10 thousand prison population were countries with an extremely small number of prisoners. These are Monaco (769.2 with 13 prisoners and 1 death), Iceland (122, 164 prisoners and 2 deaths) and Malta (75.7, 793 prisoners, 6 deaths).^[16]

2018: Number of prisoners

The number of prisoners in relation to the population in Europe. Data for 2018

1978

Landing prisoners in a special semi-trailer attached to a tractor MAZ-504. 1970s.

Notes