Many Russians Untroubled by Abuse of Prisoners Because They Believe ‘Criminals Must Suffer,’ Titayev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 1 – Most Russians don’t think about prisons very much, independent criminologist Kirill Titayev says; but when they do because someone prominent is behind bars, they often are untroubled by reports of the mistreatment and even torture of prisoners because they believe that “criminals must suffer.”

            As a result, the prison system, which censors the letters of prisoners often does not remove reports about such things because guards consider this normal and know that a many outside the walls agree with them (istories.media/opinions/2026/10/01/prestupniki-dolzhni-stradat-muchitelstvo-kak-osnovnoi-printsip-ispolneniya-nakazanii-v-rossii/).

            That is why the flood of reports of abuse of prisoners in Russian jails and camps do not generate the kind of response one might expect to such brutality and why the loss of the European Human Rights Court as a final place of appeal is going to have such tragic consequences for Russian inmates.

            In many countries, some believe that prison should involve harsh conditions; but most national prison systems have now moved beyond that recognizing that allowing such treatment will not only make the rehabilitation of prisoners unlikely but also cast a negative shadow on the entire society.

            Participants in focus groups discussing this issue that Titayev has conducted are horrified by individual stories in prisons but at the same time “are not ready to accept the idea that criminal should not be tormented” by their guards.  Until that changes, there is little chance for positive change in the Russian prison system, he says.