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Reduction of Russia's Prison Population: Possibilities and Limits. |
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Characterization of Convicts Kept at Correctional Institutions (UI) of GUIN of the RF MoJ by their Crimes, and Terms of Imprisonment[1]
Our analysis of information on socio-demographic, criminal, regulatory and other characteristics of Russia’s prison population leads us to assert that most of our prisoners are not more criminal or more marginal than the rest of the country’s population. A meager 0.2% of prisoners kept in penitentiaries (i.e. about 1.5 thousand persons) have committed a crime qualified as involving a “criminal community.” If we add those who were members of an “organized group”, we get 3% (22 thousand people). There are a further 11 thousand people who were convicted for crimes involving the use of weapons or explosives. Against the backdrop of these figures, an estimate by Mr. Yu. Kalinin, a Deputy Minister of Justice, that “out of all prison population, only about 12 to 16% are really dangerous people with dangerous morals…” will not look that odd. Over 56% of prisoners serving their time in correctional institutions are people referred to the group of “persons of no particular trade [7]” (in 1994, there were 35% of them). Most of them are not professional criminals but people who dropped off a legal business. Notably, a considerable share of the “convenient enemies” are not marginal people or people who have completely lost their socially beneficial connections. The average educational level of today’s prisoners is over nine years of school, 70% of inmates have a profession, only 10% have no home, only 30% of those going to freedom think they may have problems with finding a job. This said, the average sentence of prisoners serving time at correctional institutions of GUIN of the RF MoJ is 5.2 years [8]. As they are released after having served such a long time, former prisoners find themselves in a strange and incomprehensible world that is far more difficult to find a place in and integrate into than it was before the arrest. Especially given the changes that have occurred. This is one of the core reasons for the immense growth of the part of Russia’ population that exists outside of the legal economy. As a result, the number of persons of the working age who have fallen out of this domain have increased, according to official statistics, from 20% (1992) to 40% (2001) of the total population. Russian penitentiaries have turned into a sort of factories of “prisonization” [9] and marginalization of the population, when one out of four adult men in Russia is a former prisoner. We have driven ourselves into a vicious circle: the more people get into prison, the greater the level of the population’s criminalization, the more people need help, the more numerous are groups of prison-related risk. [1]
“Characterization of the Sentenced to Imprisonment.” Materials of the
Special Census of 1999 (Moscow: Yurisprudentsia, 2001, 454 pages). It
is more appropriate to compare women (column 4) with men in correctional
colonies of all regimes (column 2), and to compare juvenile inmates (column
5) with men in correctional colonies of the general regime (column 3). [2]
It should be noted that minors and women in committing this crime used
mostly “objects that are not weapons” (lawyers have such a definition),
e.g. frying pans, forks, and kitchen knives. [3]
Including sentences to any penalty, e.g. conditional sentences, sentences to
correctional works, etc. [4]
In 1994, this indicator for minors (the average sentence) stood at 3.4 years.
The share of persons under 16 years of age who had been sentenced to
imprisonment grew from 0.3% (1989, 1994) to 1.1%, i.e. it almost quadrupled.
[5]
For adults from 15 years (i.e. three years), for minors from 10 years (2
years). In 1994, this indicator stood at 83.7% in relation to minors. It
should be noted that under the effective RF Criminal Code, the maximum
sentence for adults (apart from life imprisonment) may reach 30 years. [6] The share of persons suffering from the open form of tuberculosis is 0.16% in the 18+ age group. At correctional colonies, this indicator is 21 times greater. However, it should be noted that at correctional institutions the TB detection rate is higher than outside colonies. [7]
At SIZOs, the share of such persons exceeds 60%. [8]
“Characterization of the Sentenced to Imprisonment.” Materials of the
Special Census of 1999 (Under the editorship of Prof. A. Mikhlin, Moscow:
Yurisprudentsia, 2001, 454 pages). [9]
“Prizonization”,
the spread of the prison subculture among free population. Although the term
itself is a derivative from the English word “prison”, it sounds quite
smooth to the Russian ear because of the familiarity of another foreign word
“zone.” |
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