Mortality in Russian prisons has increased by six per cent over the year

Over the past year, the mortality rate in Russian places of detention has increased by six per cent. This was reported by Sergei Kudeneev, Head of the General Prosecutor’s Office Department, at an extended board meeting of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), as reported by ITAR-TASS.

“In 2010, 4,423 people died in correctional institutions. This figure is six per cent worse than in 2009,” the head of the department stated, adding that prosecutors continue to identify violations of prisoners’ rights to healthcare.

“Often, medical equipment with an expired shelf life is used. There is a lack of medical supplies and medicines. Unqualified and untimely medical assistance, as well as the use of outdated equipment, is one of the causes of the increase in mortality among convicts,” said Kudeneev. The note does not mention other reasons for this increase.

The Director of the FSIN, Alexander Reimer, agreed with the head of the department: “The current system of medical care cannot satisfy either us or those to whom it is provided.” According to his data, more than 90 per cent of the approximately 830,000 prisoners are ill. At the same time, more than 410,000 of them have socially significant diseases, such as HIV infection, tuberculosis, and others.

Nevertheless, Reimer noted that “the mortality rate in our institutions is less than one per cent of the number of persons registered in medical units; this indicator is 5.3 times lower than the average mortality rate of those registered in various medical institutions across Russia.”

The Director of the FSIN also reported that a model for improving medical services is currently being tested in penal institutions in St. Petersburg, Leningrad, and Tver regions. In these regions, multidisciplinary medical and preventive institutions with an extensive network of branches have been created, reporting directly to the FSIN of the Russian Federation. In addition, the possibility of treating prisoners in state and private healthcare institutions is being explored.

In July 2010, Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Nikolai Krivolapov stated that prison doctors had been ordered to conduct daily planned rounds of all prisoners. At the same time, according to his data, there is no shortage of medicines in prisons and colonies, and he cannot “say that there is a catastrophe.”