The new head of the Butyrsky detention center was appointed yesterday by the leadership of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishments (GUIN) of the Ministry of Justice. The owner of Butyrka was Colonel Vladimir Stupin, who had previously worked for seven years in the Saratov region as the head of the Balashov prison, considered one of the best in Russia. The former head of the pre-trial detention center, Rafik Ibragimov, has been removed from his duties, and his fate will be decided by the head of the penitentiary system for Moscow and the Moscow region. After the daring escape of one of the prisoners last Monday (for the second time in a month), Mr. Ibragimov submitted his resignation. Deputy Minister of Justice Yuri Kalinin said that he will most likely be transferred to another job in the GUIN system. The leadership of the department noted that Rafik Ibragimov is “an honest and decent person; of course, there is a certain share of his guilt in what happened, but it would be unfair to say that he is responsible for everything.” Yesterday in Butyrka there was a meeting of the heads of the GUIN and the Moscow government, where it was decided to develop a joint program that would help secure personnel and also contribute to the financing of pre-trial detention centers. It has already been decided that this year the Moscow government will allocate 6-7 million rubles for the repair of Butyrka, and the Ministry of Justice, for its part, will provide another 10-12 million. Next year it is planned to spend 200 million on repairs.
