Excerpts from the Human Rights Ombudsman’s report for 2007.

Recently Vladimir Lukin, the RF ombudsman for human rights, published his annual report. We highlight excerpts from that 145-page document, concerning the re-introduction of the punitive element of internal banishment, so notorious in Soviet times. Also included are Lukin’s remarks on the continuing inadequacy of healthcare for the inmates of Russia’s penal colonies, prisons and remand centres.

[...] The complaints my office received in 2007 differ little, overall, from those I dealt with in 2006. Almost every second complaint concerned a human rights violation committed by officials as they were maintaining peace and order, during preliminary investigations and judicial procedures, or when sentencing for offences and during imprisonment in a corrective facility.

Within that category there has been a steady increase in complaints about human rights violations during judicial procedures. There has been a relative decrease in the volume of complaints concerning appeals against the sentences and rulings of courts and of decrees that have come into force. There has also been a decline, rather unexpectedly, in the number of complaints about conditions in penal colonies and other penitentiary facilities. [...]

Where a convicted felon serves his sentence

The 2006 European Prison Rules [adopted 11 January 2006 by the Council of Europe] recommend that convicted persons serve their sentences in penal colonies or prisons located near their homes or places of social rehabilitation. The changes that have now been made in Russia’s current criminal-executive legislation, regrettably, does not permit a significant portion of those imprisoned to serve their time at a reasonable distance from their established place of habitation, thereby preserving socially useful links with their family and wider society.

[...] In accordance with part 1 of Article 73 of the Criminal Executive Code, “those sentenced to terms of imprisonment shall serve their sentences in penitentiary facilities within the limits of the constituent area of the Russian Federation in which such persons resided or were convicted.” In part 2 of the same Article entirely reasonable conditions were laid down, whereby prisoners might be sent to correctional facilities (ie penal colonies or prisons) “located in the territory of another neighbouring Region of the Russian Federation”. If no place is available in the appropriate type of colony or prison in the immediate area, or if those penitentiary facilities are already completely full, it is understandable that the convicted person may be sent, by default, to serve his or her sentence in another location not far from home. The right of the prisoner to maintain ties with his or her family, and to have access to social rehabilitation, are thereby respected.

In July 2007, a small amendment was made to Article 73, part 2, of the Criminal Executive Code that changed the substantive meaning of that legal norm. Now the reference is not to sending those convicted to “another nearby” Region but simply to “another” Region or city within the Russian Federation [there are over eighty such territorial-administrative entities, plus the cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, ed]. Considering the enormous size of our country the said amendment permits the convicted person to be sent thousands of kilometres away from home. Of course, this infringes the right to maintain contact with family and to have access to social rehabilitation.

[The full and original text of Article 73 may found in Questions & Answers, “The judgment has been passed. What next?” 2005]

Inadequate healthcare for prisoners

[...] The Ombudsman continues to receive complaints about the medical treatment of prisoners. The system of healthcare that has taken shape within the Federal Penitentiary Service (FPS) is, in effect, divorced from the healthcare system of the country as a whole and this makes it incapable of providing adequately for the rights of convicts to medical treatment.

In June 2007 my office twice received inaccurate information from the medical section of the FPS in response to complaints by prisoners. The ombudsman forwarded the complaints to the Prosecutor General's office and, as a result of their examination, statements concerning violations of legality were issued. In both cases where inaccurate information had been supplied, the ombudsman approached the FPS director. No answers had been received by the time the final draft of this report was made.

One serious problem is that the medical service of the country’s penitentiary system for the punishment of criminal offenders does not come under the supervision of the relevant ministry, the RF Ministry for Health and Social Development. Directly subordinate to those running correctional facilities, medical employees of the penitentiary system for criminal offenders encounter difficulties when carrying out the tasks laid on them to maintain the health of convicted persons.

After order No 640/190 “Concerning the organisation of medical treatment for persons imprisoned in penitentiary facilities or held in custody” was jointly issued on 17 October 2005 by the Ministry for Health and Social Development and by the Ministry of Justice the impression might be given that the former department was henceforth was responsible for the state of medical care in the penitentiary system. In practice, a section within the ministry has yet to be established with responsibility for monitoring conditions in Russia’s penal colonies, prisons and remand centres.

The medicaments allotted for the treatment of prisoners are clearly insufficient, it may be added that. In 2006 the annual sum of 1,063 roubles [or less than US $40 dollars] was allocated per prisoner. In 2007 it was planned to make an annual allocation of 1,216 roubles per head.

Those in charge of prison medical services, in the head office and in local areas, are obliged to distribute, as best they can, the meagre funds at their disposal (about 20% of what they need). They are the ones who have to seek additional sources of finance, including payment by prisoners for the medical services they receive. One has the impression, at times, that the FPS medical service has no objection to copying and mastering the practice, that has become so unnaturally widespread within our health system as a whole, of demanding payment for services. [...]

The full text of Vladimir Lukin’s report may be found (in Russian) on the official website of the RF Plenipotentiary for Human Rights (http://www.ombudsmanrf.ru ). It was also published in the government newspaper, Rossiskaya gazeta, on 14 March 2008.