Russia’s prisons service admits steep fall in inmate numbers linked to Ukraine war recruitment

A steep fall in Russia’s prison population since 2021 is partly due to recruitment efforts for the war in Ukraine, Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Director Arkady Gostev said on Thursday.

At a press briefing in Moscow, Gostev told state media that the number of inmates in Russian penal colonies and pre-trial detention centres had fallen from 465,000 in late 2021 to 282,000, a drop of nearly 40%.

Gostev acknowledged that “recent efforts to recruit contract personnel for the Russian Armed Forces” had had a “particular effect” on the fall in inmate numbers. He also suggested that the fall was linked to a “humanisation of criminal penalties” through an increase in non-custodial sentencing.

Since 2022, convicts in Russia have been able to sign military contracts to fight in Ukraine in exchange for early release. The recruitment tactic was initially used by the Wagner Group paramilitary outfit, before being replicated by the Russian Armed Forces from 2023.

Convicts are typically given minimal training before being sent to fight in so-called Storm Z units, which are deployed on the most exposed parts of the front and suffer the heaviest casualties.

In August 2025, RFE/RL reported that inmates in Siberia were routinely subjected to beatings, psychological torture, and threats aimed at forcing them into military service. One source told RFE/RL at the time that 90 Russian prisons had shut down after convicts were sent to war en masse.

Inmates remaining in Russia’s corrective labour system are also used to support Russia’s war effort. According to Gostev, as of 2026 approximately 16,000 convicts are employed in military manufacturing, producing goods for the Russian army worth around 5.5 billion rubles (€65 million) annually.

The FSIN is simultaneously suffering from an acute staffing shortage. In March, Gostev’s deputy Alexander Rogozin said that, on average, 37% of positions in Russia’s prisons were vacant, while in some regions the shortage of junior and mid-level personnel approached 70%.