Principal barrier

There are fewer than a million prisoners in Russia

Reports from the leadership of the Ministry of Justice to parliamentarians on the progress of criminal justice reform are becoming regular. Yesterday, Deputy Minister of Justice Yuri Kalinin once again spoke in the State Duma, where he spoke about the latest achievements in the humanization of places of detention. The GUIN considers the most important of them to be the recently overcome fundamentally important “millionth” milestone. Today there are only 977.7 thousand people behind bars in the country, while in past years this figure fluctuated around 1 million 100 thousand. Moreover, in parallel with the reduction of the “prison population,” the Ministry of Justice intends to introduce an additional 45.7 thousand places for those arrested in pre-trial detention centers in order to normalize the situation in the overcrowded cells of pre-trial detention centers.

All these measures, however, were provided for by the target program for reforming the criminal correctional system of the Ministry of Justice for the period 2002-2006. Moreover, the state promises to allocate 14.5 billion rubles for these purposes. However, the material aspect of the reform is not the only one. As Mr. Kalinin assured legislators, today in places not so remote “there is a shift away from harsh forms of pressure on the individual, trusting relationships are being established between system personnel and convicts, priority is given to pedagogical and psychological methods of influencing offenders.”

It is noteworthy that the deputy minister’s optimism is shared by many human rights activists, who believe that serious and even “irreversible” changes have begun in the Russian criminal correctional system. “The colonies have become more open than a few years ago,” Alla Pokras, a representative of the International Prison Reform Foundation, confirmed to a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent. -- Access for public organizations is not yet free everywhere, despite the fact that the GUIN constantly sends letters to local authorities about the need for cooperation with public organizations. However, the process has begun, and this is already obvious.”

According to Ms. Pokras, not only human rights activists, but also institutions of the penitentiary system have recently applied to the International Prison Reform Foundation for grants for humanitarian programs. “We have already financed six projects,” she says. “And it is clear that the colonies are sending applications not only for the sake of money, but also because they themselves want changes.” The Foundation, in particular, supports a women's colony from Mordovia, where they will no longer separate convicted mothers from their young children. And, for example, a men's colony from Yoshkar-Ola will receive a grant for educational programs: to attract teachers who will teach English and computer skills to convicts.

By the way, representatives of the special commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe spoke positively about reforming the Russian penitentiary system yesterday. Another deputy met with the co-rapporteurs of this commission, Rudolf Binding and David Atkinson. Minister of Justice - Alexander Karlin.

Irina BELASHEVA