Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service: I hope that we will eliminate the torture of prisoners

The new director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Alexander Kalashnikov, during breaks at the international penitentiary forum in Ryazan, called torture of prisoners “isolated cases.” about this . writes Rossiyskaya Gazeta

“This is not a system, these are individual cases that we are fighting, and I hope that they simply will not happen, we will get rid of them,” he told reporters when asked about the abuse of prisoners by prison staff. “Only those who have something to fear should be afraid,” Kalashnikov responded to human rights activists’ fears that with his arrival, attitudes towards prisoners would become tougher.

“It’s probably not the right time to make conditions more stringent or take some kind of repressive measures, and we are no longer the same people,” said the head of the FSIN.

Kalashnikov added that working with prisoners leaves “its own imprint” on the FSIN employees, and the workload on them, with a salary of 19-20 thousand rubles, “exceeds all standards.” “The FSIN is not the “cursed service” that Peter I spoke of; it is, taking into account the number of convicts, a worthy and necessary service in our state,” Kalashnikov is sure.

The new head of the FSIN was appointed on October 8. From 2011 to 2017, he headed the FSB department for Komi, and then the FSB department for the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

On November 18, Deputy Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Valery Maksimenko resigned . He previously announced that he would no longer comment to the media. According to Maksimenko, it will be better this way, because sometimes he is ashamed of his colleagues. “I want to fall into the ground out of shame. It’s just embarrassing to death,” he said .