Reduction of Russia's Prison Population: Possibilities and Limits.

It still remains unclear when, at institutions of which type, and by how much the number of prisoners decreased, although this decrease was given so much attention by the media in the fall of the last year. It would be helpful to understand whether this decrease came on the back of the new Criminal Procedural Code or the cause lies in a softening of the government’s criminal policy.

It should first of all be noted that the aforementioned bill drafted by the Ministry of Justice finally found its way to the State Duma in spite of the government’s resistance.[1] In May 2000, it was approved in the first reading and adopted in the third reading in January 2001. However, because of the strong opposition on the part of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the law was returned to the lower house by the Federation Council, and then trimmed in a manner that in its final shape it would never be able to effect a reduction of the prison population by a third. Nevertheless, this law[2] (hereinafter “FZ-25), as it went in effect in March of 2001, has had a visible effect in terms of reducing the number of prisoners over the last two years. An even greater (albeit transient) role was played by a large-scale amnesty declared in May 2000.

The reduction of prison population will look less significant if we compare the figures of November 2002 with early 2001 and not with mid-2000 (the latter being the MoJ’s preferred option). The total number of prisoners reduced over this period by 47 thousand, while the population of correctional colonies for adult convicts saw an increase by 50 thousand persons.

A reduction of prisoners kept in SIZOs and juvenile colonies should undoubtedly be recognized as an important achievement of the last year. However, the total number of prisoners was reduced in 2002 by 104 thousand rather than by 200 thousand, with the population of adult colonies sagging by only 28 thousand persons.

Table 2. The Number of Prisoners at Institutions of GUIN of the RF MoJ in 2000-2003

Indicator / Date	Jan 1,00	June 1, 00	Sept 1, 00	Dec 1, 00	Jan 1, 01	Sept 1, 01	Jan 1, 02	July 1, 02	Nov 1, 02	Jan 1, 03
											as % of June 1, 00
Total prisoners in GUIN institutions, thousand persons	1,060	1 092	948	912	924	991	981	953	891	877	80
Rated number of prisoners (per 100,000 of population)	730	750	650	630	640	690	670	640	610	600	80
Total prisoners in SIZOs, prisons, and PFRSI, thousand	281.7	282.5	226.4	228.5	235.5	244.8	211.9	184.4	140.1	145.4	51
Number of prisoners in correctional colonies (adult institutions), thousand	756.4	787.8	703.6	666.1	671	727.3	749.2	759.4	740.6	720.8	91
Number of prisoners in juvenile colonies (institutions for the underage), thousand	22	21.7	18	17.4	17.2	18.9	18.	9.0	10.6	10.9	50
		Amnesty-2000, effective between May 28 and November 28, 2000			FZ-25 became effective as of March 14, 2001		An amnesty for women and the underage was in effect until May 1, 2002	The new Criminal Procedural Code went into effect	FZ-133 became effective

As can be seen from the data contained in Table 2, the greatest reduction of the prison population – by 136 thousand persons (by 46 in SIZOs) – occurred in 2000. This was a result of an amnesty declared in May, 2000. Under the amnesty, 222 thousand prisoners were released, and 43 thousand had their sentences shortened. Thus, the amnesty only partially compensated the effect of the factors driving the number of prisoners up. After the amnesty, the number of prisoners, especially those kept at correctional institutions, resumed its growth.

The change in the numbers that occurred in 2001-2002 was also affected by FZ-25[3] going into effect in March 2001. It was believed to reduce the number of prisoners at both SIZOs and correctional institutions. As for SIZOs, such expectations started to come true, to an extent, in the fall of 2001. In September-December, the population of SIZOs reduced by 32 thousand people, in the first six months of 2002, there was a further reduction by 39 thousand. Apparently, this is to an extent attributable to those provisions of FZ-25 that limited the period of detention during the pre-trial investigation (effective as of June 2001), and reduced the term of detention in the course of the preliminary investigation (effective as of January 2002). Since July 2002, after the new Criminal Procedural Code became effective, reduction of SIZOs’ population has become more noticeable, with the number of prisoners plummeting to the lowest level in the last decade and going slightly below (by 0.9%) the total capacity of SIZOs (141.4 thousand prisoners). However, in the last two months of the last year SIZOs’ population started to grow again. The increment is a small one, about 5 thousand persons (slightly over 3%), it is the trend that arises concern.

FZ-25 has substantially widened the possibilities to release convicts on parole. The mandatory minimum term of imprisonment was shortened, and all convicts were granted the right to parole[4]. GUIN wasted no time as it used the new possibilities to thin out its colonies[5]: in 2001, about 55% (130 thousand persons) of the total number of freed prisoners were released on parole[6]. However, neither the amnesties nor the wider use of parole were enough to reduce colonies’ population to a significant extent. Although the influx of people into penitentiaries become thinner after the new Criminal Procedural Code became effective, this trend manifested itself in a reduced number of prisoners as late as the end of 2002, when after the first six months of the new Code’s operation this number dropped by 28.4 thousand people.

In the view of some experts, it was not only the new UPC that helped reduce the number of prisoners in July-October 2002. Another factor was the procedure, with effect from July 1 through October 2002, by which “minor thefts” were identified (See footnotes 4 and 5). A large proportion of thefts, where the damage was below five minimum wages (RUR2,250), were then classed as administrative offences. This resulted in a greatly reduced flux of “little thieves” into SIZOs and correctional institutions. The lowered to one minimum wage (RUR450) ceiling of minor theft, established by the Federal Law FZ No. 133 with effect from October 31, 2002, will most likely result in a greater number of prisoners, including minors. At the same time, this law (FZ-133) shortens the maximum sentence under part 1 of Article 158 from three to two years (thus classing the minor theft as a small crime), and under part 2 of Article 158 from 6 to 5 years (this demotes some types of theft from grave crimes to medium-gravity crimes). These innovations will undoubtedly reduce the inflow of people into penitentiaries and increase the outflow, as some prisoners convicted under Article 158 of the Criminal Code will see their sentences shortened, will be released on parole, etc.

At juvenile colonies, the number of inmates halved over the first six months of 2002 (See Table 2). Here, too, the reduction is largely attributable to an amnesty for women and minors that ended in May 2002. A total of 14 thousand persons were released, of whom 9 thousand persons were minors. This left 9 thousand prisoners at juvenile colonies. By January 2003, the number of underage prisoners had grown to almost 11 thousand persons, an almost 20% increase. As before, the share of minors in the population of SIZOs stays high at 6.0-6.8% on October 1, 2002. This indicator was a meager 3.9% on October 1, 2001. Compare: the share of juvenile colonies’ inmates in the total number of convicts at all correctional institutions was below 1.5% at the beginning of 2003.

Our analysis of these and other data suggests that the new Criminal Procedural Code has had no significant impact on the number of underage prisoners. The number of minors in GUIN’s institutions (juvenile colonies + SIZOs) looks set to grow already in this year. We can only hope that we are not going to see the old level (over 30 thousand underage prisoners) again.

Any softening of the criminal policy can be expected to manifest itself first of all as the number of infants born in prison: their very presence at places intended for criminals goes against the natural order of things. However, over the last two years the number of children kept at Child’s Houses at female colonies[7] grew from 407 to 493 in 2001, continuing to increase into 2002 in spite of all attempts by the RF President to extend special mercy to the children and their prisoner moms. At the end of 2002, prison children already numbered 526[8].

The female part of prison population was virtually unaffected by legislative novelties and amnesties. At the beginning of 2003, penitentiaries were holding 50 thousand women, a mere 4 thousand fewer than in 2001. Most female colonies are overcrowded[9].

[1] This had been facilitated by the active support of the bill on the part of the NPO and Mr. P. Krasheninnikov, ex-Minister of Justice. On the initiative of the Legislation Committee headed by Mr. Krasheninnikov, the bill was urgently put on the schedule of the State Duma.

[2] Federal Law “On Introduction of Amendments and Supplements into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Procedural Code of the RSFSR, the Criminal Execution Code of the Russian Federation, and Other Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation.” (FZ-25 of March 9, 2001).

[3] Federal Law “On Introduction of Amendments and Supplements into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Procedural Code of the RSFSR, the Criminal Execution Code of the Russian Federation, and Other Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation.” (FZ-25 of March 9, 2001).

[4] Before this, this right had been enjoyed only by inmates who had been transferred to the lighter imprisonment regime (also known as the “privileged regime” in juvenile colonies) of serving their sentence.

[5] The institute of parole had also been used by GUIN in the past to cut off the excessive (from the perspective of better manageability) population of correctional institutions. The number of prisoners released on parole grew along with the growth of the prison population. In 1993-1995, the former was 26-35 thousand persons, in 1998-1999, 84-93 thousand.

[6] Under the Federal Law, the right to deferred penalty was granted to women who have children below 14 years of age (under the previous provision of the RF Criminal Code, below eight years of age). Unfortunately, no statistics on the number of women who were granted the deferment are available to us.

[7] We have no statistical data on infants at SIZOs. According to various estimates, their number is between one third and one half of the number of infants at female correctional colonies.

[8] Out of the 182 prisoners pardoned by the President in 2002, 52 are women (of whom 48 have infants) and one underage person. According to my calculation, if it had not been for the pardon, the growth of the number of prison infants had been 12-14% in 2002.

[9] At the beginning of 2001, the number of female colonies was 38, their aggregate design capacity 34 thousand persons, the actual number of inmates was 117% of the design capacity. The data for the beginning of 2002: number of colonies 40, capacity 36 thousand, actual number of inmates 132% of the capacity.

New Criminal Procedural Code and the Government’s Policy (2000 – 2002). An Increase in the Number of Infants Born in Prison