Prison meters

The number of prisoners in Russia has begun to rise again

The leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) yesterday promptly responded to the promise made by Vladimir Putin the day before to deal with abuses in correctional institutions of the Perm Territory. Speaking at a press conference, which, by the way, was planned quite a long time ago, Deputy Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Vladimir Semenyuk specifically focused on the situation with the situation of prisoners in this region. Mr. Semenyuk admitted that there really was a problem there, but immediately said that it was already being resolved.

As you know, on Wednesday, during a direct line, President Putin read a note from prisoners serving sentences in the Perm Territory, who complained about the inappropriate behavior of prison management. Vladimir Putin promised that the issue would be carefully studied by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. And yesterday, without waiting for the prosecutor’s assessments, Mr. Semenyuk admitted that the Perm Territory is indeed a very difficult region for them and, accordingly, for the prisoners themselves. As the deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service said, on the territory of the region there are 44 colonies, four pre-trial detention centers (SIZOs) and 50 penal inspections, and for each prisoner there is only 3 square meters. m of “living space”. “Yes, there is not enough space, but everyone is provided with a place to sleep,” explained Mr. Semenyuk, especially noting that two new pre-trial detention centers will be built there in the near future.

The lack of places for prisoners in general, as the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service admitted, has recently become an increasingly acute problem again. “The problem with the so-called over-limit in pre-trial detention centers, when they were like beehives, has been practically solved,” said Mr. Semenyuk. “Five or six years ago, in many pre-trial detention centers there was less than 1 square meter per person under investigation. Now this It’s been a long time since there were at least 2.5 square meters per person arrested, and the national average is 3.8 square meters.” In total, 870 thousand people are currently held in colonies and pre-trial detention centers. “We are fighting to ensure that there are no random people in pre-trial detention centers,” he said.

However, this year plans to further reduce arrests and prisoners appear to have been thwarted. Today, as the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service reported, more than 30 thousand people are arrested every month - this is even more than during the time of the old Code of Criminal Procedure (then an average of 28 thousand people were arrested every month). Although, as Mr. Semenyuk noted, immediately after the introduction of the new Criminal Procedure Code, the number of those arrested dropped to 16-17 thousand people. “If the growth rate in the number of arrested people is the same as now, then the problem of their placement will persist. We simply won’t have time to build a pre-trial detention center,” noted Mr. Semenyuk. At the same time, he admitted that the most difficult situation is developing in Moscow, the Moscow region, Novosibirsk and Chita, where the pre-trial detention center has an over-limit of 20-30%. The deputy head of the FSIN emphasized that he opposes the arrests of so many people, especially those suspected of committing crimes for which no more than two years of imprisonment are provided.

However, despite these problems, future Russian prisoners, according to Mr. Semenyuk, will be much more pleasant in prison than the current ones. Starting next year, the federal program for the development of the penal system will begin to be implemented, for which 54 billion rubles have been allocated. In accordance with it, by 2016, all pre-trial detention centers will have to comply not only with minimum standard standards, but also with European ones. Now most of the insulators belong to royal buildings, 75% are worn out. “We will not only repair, but also build new ones. 26 new insulators will be built - at the rate of 7 square meters. m per person,” said Mr. Semenyuk.

Regarding the recently announced plans to sell the buildings of well-known pre-trial detention centers (such as the Butyrskaya prison in Moscow and the “Crosses” in St. Petersburg) to private investors for their conversion into shopping and entertainment centers, Mr. Semenyuk admitted that their implementation is still far away . “When people find out the conditions - about the construction of a new detention center instead of the one being purchased, they refuse it,” admitted the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

Tatiana GRITSENKO