Article 11—1 of the Correctional Labor Code formulates the right to control over ITUs on the part of local authorities in the most general
way, and contains many reservations which make it ineffectual. For example, members of
overseeing commissions and "other authorized persons" need to get approval for
their visits to ITUs from internal affairs, while no
procedures for appealing negative decisions exists. In practice, the ability of NGO's to
carry out their human rights and charitable activities depends entirely on the good graces
of local administrations. In some regions, for example, in the Moscow region prison
administrations do not mind NGOs' activity. But the majority of penitentiary institutions
remain as closed as they were in the Soviet era. An answer given in response to the
inquiry of the Moscow Society for the Guardianship of Penitentiary Institutions serves as
good example of this:
"...Moscow Institution 48/1 is not required to inform the Society
about medical help provided to arrestees, since the Society has no relation to the
prisoners..."
This reply received from the administration of one of Moscow SIZOs is rather typical for the majority of Russian
penitentiary workers, many of whom frankly believe that the only purpose of public
organizations is to render help (including financial help) to prison staff and to be
"genie in the bottle" at a prison or colony
director's beck and call.
The Law of June 12, 1992 has not changed the nature of the Correctional
Labor Code as a document in word only. Just as before, prison conditions are not defined
by the Code, but rather by secret or half-secret or institutional acts and instructions
unavailable to prisoners. Human rights organizations received many replies from officials
refusing to present this or that instruction or act because they are only "for
internal use". Some of these documents are obviously beyond the competence of
departments that institute or use them.
There are several examples of disagreement between the Correctional
Labor Code and the main body of institutional regulations, or ITU
Internal Regulations (IIR). According to paragraph 14 of the IIR, prisoners in ShiZOs and isolation cells are not allowed to send letters,
though there is no such prohibition in the Code. According to Article 26 part 1 of the
Correctional Labor Code, prisoners can receive short visits "from family or other
persons", while paragraph 8 of the IIR has a reservation widening administration's
authority: "visits of other persons are allowed only if these visits will not have a
negative effect (from the point of view of the administration) on a prisoner".. The
Internal Ministry introduces many innovations, considerably restricting prisoners' rights
on a trial basis, though the Code and other laws do not stipulate or regulate any such
conduct on the part of the authorities.
