Russia combats corruption in prisons

According to a report from the Press Bureau of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of Russia, at a meeting of the Public Council under the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, held by order of the President of the Russian Federation, the issue of the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures and the participation of civil society institutions in the implementation of anti-corruption policy was considered. Mikhail Saprontsev, acting head of the Internal Security Directorate of the FSIN of Russia, gave a report on the results of activities in this direction.
In particular, he noted that every year, representatives of the penal system commit about 700 violations of legality, of which about 30% are criminal offences based on corruption. In the first 7 months of 2011, 52 employees were convicted, 21 of them for corruption-related criminal offences. In 2010, 139 employees were held criminally liable, including 60 for corruption-related criminal offences.
In the first half of the year, employees of the Internal Security Directorate reviewed 217 complaints regarding facts of violations of legality and unlawful actions of employees (in 2010 — 209). In the first half of 2011, 130 statements were not confirmed (in 2010 — 165), and 55 statements were partially confirmed (in 2010 — 44).
As the analysis conducted by the directorate shows, employees were most often held liable for accepting bribes. At the same time, thanks to active preventative work, the number of employees detained under Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal distribution of drugs) has significantly decreased. Thus, in the first half of this year, 34 criminal cases were initiated based on materials from the Internal Security Directorate, whereas last year there were 53 criminal cases.
An analysis conducted by the Research Institute of the FSIN of Russia showed that in the penal system, citizens aged 35 commit official crimes more often than others. The proportion of penal system employees who are married at the time of committing a crime exceeds the proportion of employees who are not married. A high educational level manifests as an anti-corruption factor. The higher a person’s education, the less likely they are to commit a crime. And finally, the length of service indicator testifies to the necessity of focusing attention during preventative measures both on employees with significant length of service in the penal system (more than 12 years) and on employees who have just entered the service.
Summarising the results, members of the council offered the leadership of the Internal Security Directorate cooperation on this issue, as prisoners and their relatives quite often turn to them with requests to help stop the unlawful actions of certain employees.