Russia’s penitentiary system admits inmate numbers are falling due to military recruitment for the invasion of Ukraine

The number of people held in Russian prisons and pretrial detention centers has fallen by about one-third since 2021, Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Director Arkady Gostev said in comments to the state-controlled news agency TASS. He cited “effort to recruit contract soldiers” as one reason, likely the first such acknowledgment by the penitentiary service.

According to Gostev, Russia’s prison population has shrunk from 465,000 inmates at the end of 2021 to 282,000 now. This number includes prisons, penal colonies, and pretrial detention centers, which currently hold approximately 85,000 people across the country.

The penitentiary service director listed several factors behind the decline. TASS quoted him as pointing to the “humanization of criminal punishment,” including the wider use of forced labor, probation, and noncustodial sentences. Gostev also said “effort to recruit contract soldiers for the Armed Forces” has made “a certain impact.”

The independent investigative outlet Important Stories noted that this is likely the first time the Federal Penitentiary Service has acknowledged that the decline in the inmate population is linked to prisoners leaving to fight in Ukraine under contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry. The Insider was also unable to find any earlier similar statements by representatives of the prison service.

Notably, a report by the state-owned Interfax news agency on Gostev’s remarks cited the same figures but made no mention of the connection between the decline and the military recruitment of prisoners.

Officials had previously attributed the decline in inmate numbers only to the wider use of noncustodial sentences. In March, Russian Supreme Court Deputy Chairman Vladimir Davydov said the trend was the result of efforts to humanize criminal law and law enforcement practices.

The Federal Penitentiary Service also linked the figures to “the broad use of alternative punishments” and “the liberalization of penal policy.” The Justice Ministry first announced a historic record drop in the number of inmates in October 2023 –the first such statement since the penitentiary service stopped publishing inmate population statistics in November 2022, when the Wagner private military company began recruiting mercenaries in penitentiaries across the country.

In late March, lawmakers submitted a bill to the State Duma that would exempt prisoners returning from the war from mandatory supervision. In 2024, the Duma also passed amendments allowing people under investigation, on trial, or already convicted, to sign military contracts.