Since Putin’s War Began. More Russian Women have Been Jailed and Suffered More Abuse Behind Bars, ‘Vyorstka’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 5 -- While the total number of Russians behind bars is less than in the past, the number and share of women among them have risen dramatically as have the mistreatment they have received, according to a detailed study of the situation by the independent Vyorstka portal.  

            The number of men behind bars has declined for two reasons, it says. On the one hand, the war has taken out of civilian life many in the age cohorts most likely to commit crimes; and on the other, men can get out of jail by volunteering to fight in Ukraine (verstka.media/zhenskij-prigovor-pochemu-v-rossii-rastyot-achislo-osuzhdyonnyh-zhenshhin).

            At the same time, the siloviki have arrested and courts have sentenced to imprisonment ever more women for crimes that had sometimes been overlooked earlier given the more violent ones committed by men, something the police have done to keep their numbers up and prove they are doing their jobs.

            Once incarcerated, Vyorstka says, on the basis of conversations with experts and activists, women are treated far worse them men, often because they lack the clans within prisoners that sometimes have succeeded in convincing jailors that everyone will be safer and better off if concessions are made.

            In 2008, 140,000 Russian prisoners were women. That figure fell to 73,300 in 2020 but has now risen again to 87,305, figures that meant women formed roughly 15 percent in the first two of these years but now almost 20 percent – 19.94 to be precise – at the present time, the portal continues.