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Abbreviations and Glossary

 

Criminal Justice System

legislation; legal, social and economic institutions; bodies of judicial and executive authority; services and departments protecting citizens and society from crime, prosecuting and penalizing offenders, preventing crimes and rehabilitating released prisoners.

 

CCS 

criminal corrections system: legislation; juridical, social and economic institutions, departments, services, bodies carrying out correction of offenders.

 

CE 

Council of Europe.

 

Colony

see PKT.

 

Correctional Labor Code of the Russian Federation

a code defining legal status of prisoners in Russia. There are corresponding codes in countries of the former USSR.

 

Deviate behavior

behavior which does not conform with norms, rules of behavior, ideas, stereotypes, expectations, precepts and values common in society.

 

Detachment

is a structural division of the colony that includes between 100 to 200 inmates. There can be two to five brigades in one detachment. A detachment is divided into squads of 20 to 30 prisoners. The detachment is normally housed in a local zone.

 

DIZOs

disciplinary segregation cell, are cells for the detention of violators of internal rules of educational labor colonies. They differ from ShiZOs by softer regime of detention. The maximum term of incarceration in a DIZO is ten days (versus 15 days in ShiZOs).

 

Disciplinary battalions

special military detachments for servicemen who committed military crimes. This is a closed type institution.

 

EPKT

(the Russian abbreviation for cell-type premises). These institutions are not stipulated in the legislation. There is only a PKT there — a structural division in a ITU. EPKT is under the jurisdiction of the regional Department of Corrections. The first EPKT was set up in the early 1980s in the Usolsk Administration of Timber Correctional Labor Colonies in the Northern Urals in the former prisoners transit transporting center as an experiment. Among prisoners it is known as “White Swan”. In 1988, at the order of MVD Minister A.V.Vlasova, these institutions were established in seven more GULITU administrations.

What is the difference between PKT and EPKT? When a prisoner is placed in a PKT, he is not transferred from his PKT, he is supervised by the same head of the detachment, he contacts only with inmates of his PKT where he serves his sentence, he has the same mail address etc. If a prisoner is sentenced to EPKT, he is transported to another town, sometimes to another region, which is, in fact, almost equal to transferring a prisoner to a prison-type institution. According to the program developed by the MVD, EPKT is designed for “isolating prisoners actively opposing ITU’s administration in maintaining order”. For this purpose the legislation stipulates prison-type institutions. But only a court can sentence an inmate “actively opposing ITU’s administration” to the prison regime, while to send a prisoner to EPKT, which does not differ much from a prison-type institution, only a decision of the ITU’s director is necessary.

Thus, one of the aims of the experiment is to create possibilities for penitentiary workers to act outside laws and without any control over their activity. There are some more advantages for ITUs’ staff in the existence of EPKT and LPUs. These institutions help them to manipulate statistics. For example, since placement in a LPU officially is not considered a disciplinary punishment, it is possible to vary the number of disciplinary violations committed in an PKT, changing the proportion of those places in PKT (and ShiZO) and LPU. EPKT can provide the same possibilities to vary the number of convicts “actively opposing ITU’s administration” for whom the form of punishment was changed.

There are also several more purposes which these half-legal “experimental”, not even mentioned in the MVD program, institutions serve. In secret MVD instructions, EPKTs are called “preventive centers to corrupt negatively minded prisoners”. As far as we can judge on documents which turned out to be at our disposal, these centers serve the following purposes:

To recruit informers, agents and instigators for operative services. Those recruited are then sent to ITUs and work for operative-searching services on the outside.

To conduct operative activity among prisoners suspected in unrevealed crimes in order to initiate criminal cases.

To frighten prisoners in common penitentiary institutions. A threat to be placed to an EPKT is a very effective means to influence prisoners who are not in favor of the ITU’s administration.

It is obvious, that in EPKT investigation is carried out in the violation of any procedural norms established by law for an ordinary investigation. To recruit agents and reveal a crime “various forms of psychological and regime influence” are used in EPKT. This is professional slang of operative workers for various latent methods of extracting confessions, necessary information or changing behavior of the object of the operative activity in a certain direction. These methods include not only ”educational conversations”, but press-cells, tortures, and beatings. It should be pointed out that the number of leaders of “negatively minded groups” was steadily growing during the EPKT’s existence. As a result of the “corruptive work” society receives completely degraded people able to commit any violent crime.

 

Especially dangerous repeat offenders (EDR)

The offender can be declared an EDR by the court if he/she has served a few terms (for serious crimes or those committed while in prison — for a single sentence served). They are assigned to more restricted and harsh regimes of detention than that of other prisoners, they wear striped uniforms and are not subject to be released on parole. Frequently, people who have fallen under this category are not of much danger to the society (such as pickpockets).

 

GDP 

Gross Domestic Product.

 

GUIN

the Russian abbreviation for The Main Directorate of Corrections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is the department that supervises the majority of Russian penitentiary institutions. GUIN governs penal institutions through the regional departments of correctional institutions. In republics they are established under the republican ministries of internal affairs, in regions and krais — under the corresponding departments of internal affairs. The regional departments are normally called Service of Corrections and Social Rehabilitation at the regional Department of Internal Affairs, sometimes they are called departments of corrections. The number of penal institutions in different regions range between 10 and 50.

The former names of GUIN:

GULAG, Main Directorate of Camps (1930s — 1950s);

GUITK, Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Colonies (the end of the 1950s);

GUITU, Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Institutions (the early 1960s — the mid-1980s);

GUID, Main Department of Corrections (until the end of the 1980s);

GULAG, 1) The Main Directorate of Labor Camps. This was name of the soviet system of concentration camps and appeared in the 1930s.

2) A general name for the soviet system of extermination of people and suppression of any dissent (sometimes — for similar systems in other totalitarian countries. This name became commonly used by the international community after the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel "GULAG Archipelago".

3) The name of the present penitentiary systems in the countries of the former USSR that is used by journalists and human rights activists, because the modern system remains much the same as before, despite some significant changes made since Stalin's period.

 

GULITU

the Russian abbreviation for the Main Directorate of Timber Correctional Labor Institutions, is a division of the federal (since 1992, Russian) MVD supervising timber departments. Unlike the regional departments, the timber departments are directly subordinate to GULITU (departments of "central" subordination). There were not these directorates in republics of the former USSR. Since 1995, directorates of timber ITUs have been transferred under the supervision of regional departments of internal affairs. In early 1996 there were 158 timber ITUs.

 

PKT

(the Russian abbreviation for correctional labor colony) is a general name for colony type institutions for adult offenders. ITKs are divided into the following types of security regimes:

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)a minimum security ("general regime") colony for male non-violent, first time offenders, and for all female offenders except those found to be "especially dangerous re-offenders" by the court;

 BL1.GIF (837 bytes)a medium security ("strengthened regime") colony for males convicted for the first time for serious crimes;

 BL1.GIF (837 bytes)a medium to maximum security ("strict regime") colony for male and female "especially dangerous repeat offenders";

 BL1.GIF (837 bytes)a maximum security ("special regime") colony for "especially dangerous male repeat offenders";

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)open-prison settlements that are institutions of the half closed type for those convicted for the first time for non-premeditated crimes and for prisoners, who have been transferred from minimum, medium and medium to maximum security-colonies by the decision of the court. ITKs of various security levels differ according to detention conditions and restrictions.

There are also specialized ITKs for offenders suffering from tuberculosis and for invalids, Timber ITKs (see the section on Russia), ITKs for former law enforcement officers. The administration of ITKs and pre-trial detention centers decide whether to send a convict to a specialized PKT or a prison hospital.

The regime of detention (the number of parcels, visits, telephone calls, etc. allowed by law) increases from minimum to maximum security colonies. In maximum security colonies inmates are held in locked cells (from 20 to 50 people in each), in other colonies prisoners are housed in dormitories (convicts call them "barracks"). Sleeping rooms in dormitories are designed for 20 to 50 inmates, beds are of two to three tiers. Apart from sleeping rooms in dormitories, every 150 to 200 convicts that make up a "detachment" are provided with:

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)room to store personal belongings;

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)cloakroom (for outer garments);

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)room to take meals (there is a device for boiling water and cupboards for food);

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)"red little corner" (the former name for this room was "Lenin's room") which is the room to hold political educational and cultural events; there are tables, bookshelves, radio (not a transistor), television set (if it is available), sometimes a toilet (it is quite rare that there is a sewage system in ITKs). The law stipulates a minimum living space of 2 sq. meters per person. In colonies of all security levels, except those of maximum security, there is a small fenced yard for walks (the so-called "local zone") that is designed to take 200 to 600 people. In the daytime, the prisoner is allowed to spend his/her leisure time there. As to the rest of the territory of the colony, prisoners can move across it only in formation with the permission of the administration. The number of prisoners in one colony ranges from 500 to 3,000 (normally, between 1,500 and 2,000).

 

ITKs

are divided into industrial and living zones. These zones are separated by fences and rows of barbed wire and between them there is a corridor that sometimes is shot through by the guards. The living zone is separated into a few local zones where dormitories are located. In the territory of the living zone, there usually is a canteen, club, library, school, medical unit (sometimes a small hospital for 10 to 30 patients), bathing house and headquarters with premises for administration officers. Normally, there are rooms for short-term (from two to four hours) and long-term visits.

Every PKT has separate units for disciplinary punishment. ShiZOs (the Russian abbreviation) are punishment cells used for short-term detention periods of up to 15 days and PKTs (the Russian abbreviation) are the internal prisons of colonies, where inmates are kept for up to six months. Before 1988 inmates in ShiZOs and PKTs received reduced rations of food. Other restrictions included prisoners' daily walks, correspondence, books, smoking, parcels and bedding. In 1992 some of these restrictions were abolished in Russia.

 

ITU hospitals

are for convicts who require serious treatment or examination. Almost all regional and timber ITU directorates have their own hospitals. These hospitals have separate departments for prisoners of different security levels and for women and juveniles. Prisoners are kept in cells in ITU hospitals.

 

ITUs

(the Russian abbreviation) are correctional labor institutions, where those who received prison sentences serve their terms. ITUs include ITUs of various types including VTKs, LTPs (refer to items below) and prisons.

 

IVSs

(the Russian abbreviation) are administrative detention centers for those suspected of committing a crime. The term of detention in these centers is not supposed to exceed three days, but can be prolonged by up to 10 days and in some cases by up to 30 days. An arrestee can either be released or transferred to a pre-trial detention center according to the procurator's sanction. IVSs used to be called KPZs (preliminary detention cell). In most Russian regions IVSs house from 10% to 30% of pre-trial prisoners.

 

Khimia

(Chemistry) is an unofficial name for one type of criminal punishment. There are two official names: suspended sentence or conditional release with obligatory labor. This type of punishment is related to the transportation to so-called special commandant's headquarters (see the Glossary), where the prisoner is assigned to live in a special dormitory and to work at an enterprise that frequently has bad and harmful conditions. Between 1992 and 1993 this punishment was abolished because of the breakdown of the economy.

 

Local zones

are sections of the living zone separated by fence; they are designed for one or two detachments of prisoners to reduce contacts between inmates and prevent incidents of massive disorder.

 

LPU

(the Russian abbreviation) is a local preventive zone. This is a special zone in an ITU, as MVD officers assert, designed “for persistent violators of the colony’s internal regulations”. LPUs — they think — allow “to reduce negative influence of more criminal prisoners on others”. In many ITUs, LPUs are just cell-type premises. Establishing an LPU in every institution is “one of the main directions” of the concept of the CCS reforming developed by the MVD. By 1995, LPUs were established in 300 institutions. Both objectively and subjectively, placement in an LPU is a punishment for a prisoner. Isolation is more strict there, prisoner’s possibilities to move about the ITU’s territory and choice of work are limited. Latent means of suppressing prisoners such as bringing in OMON fighters and mass beatings, and so called “methods of degrading work with prisoners”, to which we will refer later, are often used there.

Current Correctional Labor Code stipulates ShiZOs and PKTs for the same purposes that are “for isolation persistent violators of the colony’s internal regulations. There is no need to establish them — they are in each ITU. Why to invent a bicycle again, to create something illegal while it is already stipulated by law.?

It will be easier to find an answer to this question if to take into account that placement in a ShiZO or a PKT is a punishment for a certain disciplinary violation or violations which entail procedural actions (drawing up a statement and a document about committed violation, inquiring the accused prisoners etc. This punishment can be appealed in accordance with the order established by law. Besides, the time spent in ShiZOs and PKTs is strictly restricted (15 days at a time and two months within a year in ShiZO, and six months in PKT). It requires neither offense nor any procedures to place an inmate in a LPU since it is not stipulated by the law. It is not limited in time and cannot be appealed by a prisoner. Probably, this is the reason why establishing LPUs is considered “one of the main directions” in the MVD program.

 

MCPR

Moscow Center for Prison Reform.

 

Military detention centers (gauptvakhty)

facilities at military units, which hold both penalized military service men and those suspected of committing military crimes.

 

OID

(the Russian abbreviation) is department of corrections.

 

OMON

special purpose detachments of the militia, are the units of the Russian militia, organized to carry out especially difficult assignments, such as fighting against organized crime, prevention of mass disorders, arresting armed criminals, etc.). The prisoners often call "OMON" the special purpose detachments established by regional departments of penal institutions to suppress mass riots, release hostages etc. Since 1991, these detachments have been used for preventive purposes to threaten prisoners in those colonies where there is an alarming situation.

 

Operative-searching activity

activity of militia bodies conducting preliminary work with the offense:

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)coming to a place of crime;

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)drawing up documents about the offense;

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)revealing offenders (searching);

BL1.GIF (837 bytes)processing documents in order to pass them to investigation.

 

Operative service

an MVD structural division conducting investigation and preventing crimes. It widely uses agents in its work. In every ITU and SIZO there is an operative unit which should control the atmosphere in the institution, prevent crimes and conflicts, reveal crimes committed earlier and collect information about criminal world authorities. An operative unit has a great number of agents among prisoners (according to some sources from 2% to 5% of all prison population: informers and instigators; widely uses latent methods of suppressing prisoners (setting people against each other, press-cells etc.).

 

Penology

1. A science on criminal punishment; 2. A science on methods and technology of administering penitentiary institutions.

 

PKT

internal colony prison for persistent violators of internal colony rules. PKTs are situated in the same building with ShiZO and separated by fence from the other sections of the colony. Prisoners who are placed in PKTs are restricted in some rights. By the 1992 law, the maximum term in a PKT is limited to six months.

 

PVR

(the Russian abbreviation) — internal prison regulations — is an MVD document defining prison conditions in ITUs. This very document and 300 MVD instructions rather than Correctional Labor Code regulate life in penitentiary institutions and establish numerous norms and limitations not even mentioned in the legislation.

PRI

Penal Reform International

Prisons

are penitentiary institutions for people convicted of serious crimes or who are sent to prison by the court from ITKs for persistent violations of the colony's internal regulations. Convicts serving time in different security levels (minimum, medium, medium to maximum) are kept in separate blocks of the prison. There used to be special prisons for those who received prison sentence for serious offenses and for persistent violators of internal ITU regulations. There is a special block for disciplinary punishment in every prison.

 

ShiZO

is a punishment cell or a colony section where punishment cells are located. The rights of those placed in ShiZO are significantly restricted. Before 1988 prisoners were given reduced ration of food (torture of hunger). Apart from that, all the clothes were taken away from prisoners and instead they were given only thin cotton uniform; they were denied daily walks, sheets and mattresses, letters, parcels. The harsh conditions in ShiZOs (cold — in winter and stuffiness — in summer) are often deliberately created by the administration and contributes to the spread of tuberculosis. By the 1992 law, many limitations were abolished. Maximum terms were introduced of not more than 15 days at a time and summary duration of terms allowed for one year is not more than two months. However, being placed in a ShiZO is still one of the severest punishments.

 

SID&SR

Service of Corrections and Social Rehabilitation (until the beginning of 1992). In many former republics of the USSR these agencies are called SID&SR of the MVD or UID (MVD Department of Corrections).

 

SIZOs

(the Russian abbreviation) are institutions for confining those awaiting sentencing. As a rule, SIZOs include separate departments for women, juveniles, first offenders, re-offenders, sick inmates, those who have received the death sentences and inmates supposed to be transferred to ITUs. There are also separate cells for disciplinary punishment in SIZOs.

 

SPBs

(the Russian abbreviation) are special psychiatric hospitals for convicts declared insane and those who are seriously mentally disturbed as well as for those who became mentally ill while serving their sentence terms. Violent offenders and re-offenders are usually allocated to SPBs by the court. Non-violent first offenders can be sent to a general psychiatric hospital. In 1988 SPBs were transferred from the jurisdiction of the MVD under the Ministry of health.

 

Special commandant's headquarters

are penitentiary institutions for offenders given a conditional sentence with the obligation to work and offenders conditionally released with the obligation to work (i.e. convicts of ITKs of minimum, medium and medium to maximum levels of security, whose sentences were mitigated by the court). Convicts at these institutions must live in special dormitories and work at specified enterprises (often with harmful and hard working conditions). Offenders, sentenced to this type of punishment are most often sent to regions far away from their permanent places of residence.

 

Special intake institutions

are institutions for "individuals without a permanent place of residence" or who are suspected of committing a crime and whose identity should be established.

 

Special secondary schools and special vocational schools

are half-open institutions for juvenile offenders. Teenagers between 11 to 14 years of age are confined in special secondary schools. These institutions are also for juveniles between 14 and 18 years of age, who have committed crimes or offenses which entail punishment only for teenagers and children. Offenses of this type include missing classes, bad conduct at school or at home, appearing drunk in public places or running away from home. In the recent past, the majority of juvenile offenders (almost 90%) have been sent to special secondary schools and special vocational schools by decision of commissions on juvenile delinquents at the executive commissions of local soviets. In these cases the majority of juveniles were found guilty without the representation of lawyers or the usual court proceedings, they did not have the right to appeal their sentences. The length of the term in these institutions is arbitrary and can be prolonged by up to three years or even more. Rather often juveniles serve their terms far from home and this hampers their contacts with families and relatives. A new order is presently being introduced in Russia according to which a court will make the decision on whether to send a juvenile to a special secondary or a special vocational school. These institutions resemble educational labor colonies by their detention conditions, level of isolation, social micro climate and compulsory labor.

 

TPPs

(the Russian abbreviation) are transportation centers for convicts who are on their way to timber ITUs. Every timber ITU directorate has a TPP. In those directorates, which have EPKTs, TPPs and EPKTs are situated in the same building.

 

UID

department of corrections. See GUIN in section I of the Glossary.

 

ULITU

Directorate of timber ITUs, regional department of the GULITU.

 

UVD 

department of internal affairs, regional division of the MVD.

 

VTK

is the Russian abbreviation for "educational labor colony". These are correctional labor institutions resembling camps for juvenile offenders between 14 to 20 years of age who are sentenced to prison. These facilities usually hold between 300 and 700 juveniles. Conditions there are much better than in their counterparts for adults. However, cells for minors in pre-trial prisons and VTKs are the most vulnerable in terms of basic human rights. The life, health and personal dignity of juveniles are not properly protected. Beatings, torture and rape are the daily routine in VTKs. In VTKs the largest portion of sexually abused persons and those permanently used as a sexual object is observed: in the 1970s and 1980s the number of sexually abused reached 30% in some regions.

In VTKs the same zones and functional premises exist as in those of adult colonies (see "PKT"), there are also disciplinary punishment cells called DIZOs.

 

Zone

is a section of correctional labor institutions, separated by fence from the rest territory. There is, for example, living zone, industrial zone, local zone and others.

 


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