Torture Only One of Problems in Russian Prisons, Former Inmate Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 17 – The appearance of video files documenting torture in Russian prisons has sparked widespread discussion and expressions of dismay, but torture is only one of the many problems in the Russian prison system, according to Sergey Udaltsov, a dissident who was an inmate between 2013 and 2017.

            These must be recognized and addressed, he says, because to a large degree the use of force against prisoners is directly connected with “the poor and at times torturous in themselves conditions in which those arrested and convicted are held.” Attacking torture thus requires that these conditions be addressed as well (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/313287/).

            Many prison guards and indeed many civilians have little interest in overcoming these problems because they believe that prisoners don’t deserve better and that those incarcerated are “’second-class people’” and deserve abuse, attitudes that often serve as the basis for the conviction that torture is appropriate as well, Udaltsov says.

            The problems begin with the physical condition of the prisons and detention centers themselves, he continues. Most were built 50 or more years ago and thus are “survivals of the past which are categorically incapable of providing normal conditions for those under arrest” even if the will to provide that were present.

            Prisons and detention centers lack adequate space, plumbing, and heating. “All this creates unhealthy conditions for those incarcerated who were sentenced to a loss of freedom but not to maintenance in conditions of too little space, too much cold and without adequate sanitary arrangements.”

            In most Russians, those confined can take a shower no more than once a week, live in overcrowded rooms without adequate toilet arrangements, and can’t get access to medical care or psychological assistance. Some may see this as appropriate punishment, but it defeats the purpose of such punishment, Udaltsov says.

            “I myself observed all these problems which serving a sentence in a corrective labor colony of general regime in Tambov Oblast,” one that was far from the worst. Among the things he observed was that long-term prisoners often had lost all their teeth because they could not gain access to any dental care that might have saved the situation.

            The story is the same for prisoners with other illnesses. They can’t get treatment and die or receive medical attention only when it is too late to save the situation. What needs to be done is the provision of far more medical services within prisons so that this doesn’t continue to happen.

            Solving these problems will be easier if the number of those behind bars is reduced further, Udaltsov says. In his view, “about 30 percent” of inmates shouldn’t be incarcerated because they do not represent any danger for society. Cutting the prison population by 30 percent would make it possible to spend more per prisoner at the same cost.

            And reducing the prison population can be achieved quickly and easily via a general amnesty. In that event, conditions in places of confinement in Russia will improve, and together with that, the number of cases of torture by guards and other prison officials will be significantly reduced as well.