Almost no complaints about abuses of the right to freedom of religion were received by
human rights organizations during the last three years. Administrations of the majority of
penitentiary institutions welcome clergymen and representatives of religious
organizations, do not impede, but rather help to organize prayer rooms, assist prisoners
in building churches and receiving religious literature. But prisoners themselves often
complain that local churches do not pay enough attention to them. According to the
penitentiary census, 18.7% of prisoners are orthodox Christians, 1.7% belong to other
Christian confessions, 2.5% are Muslims and 0.4% of other religions. 76.7% consider
themselves non-believers. There are many believers in female colonies (over 40%) and in
prisons (33%).
It should be noted here that some provisions of art. 8-1 of the
Correctional Labor Code contradict earlier adopted laws.
This article, for example, deprives prisoners in isolations cells, ShiZOs or disciplinary cells of the right to meet with
clergymen. At the same time, art. 22 of the Law On Freedom of Religion adopted in 1990
reads, inter alia, that "administration must assist in inviting clergymen and
creating conditions for their free communication with inmates" for this group of
prisoners also.
We know that in 1995, 7,303 prisoners were isolated and 1,387 transferred to other ITUs for reasons of personal safety. These figures
demonstrate that introduction of this norm was justified. Unfortunately, we do not know
how many inmates applied to the administration for protection. However, we can point out
that in 1994 and 1995 unlike in 1990-92, only a few complaints about violations of this
norm were received.
