Monitoring Visit to BVK-85

On 13 July 2018, a group of monitors from the UHHRU and the KHPG carried out a joint visit to the Bucha Correctional Colony No. 85 to study the situation with the provision of medical assistance to convicts at the Medical Rehabilitation Center (MOB) of BVK-85.

After inspecting the cell-wards and communicating with the convicts receiving treatment in the MOB, the monitors noted the following systemic violations that require correction.

1. Absence of HIV testing for individuals upon admission to the pre-trial detention center (SIZO) and penal institutions. The monitors noted specific cases where HIV was diagnosed at late stages, which complicated or made impossible the proper treatment of these individuals and significantly affected the state of health of the convicts.

2. There is a real problem with those convicts who suffer from serious illnesses and are released or may be released from serving their sentence due to their state of health, and who do not have the possibility of receiving treatment, and sometimes do not have a place of residence or even the means for existence. Here, the question arises regarding the future of such people and how positively their immediate release from places of non-freedom will influence their further life.

3. In the hospital, all wards are, in fact, cells that are constantly locked, and the convicts stay locked in these cells almost all the time. At the same time, there is often a situation where convicts who do not smoke are forced to breathe smoke when those who are with them in the same ward smoke cigarettes. Going for a walk, which is provided for the convicts, is not regular, as for three floors of the hospital there is only one attendant who can open one cell at a time and take the convicts out. Convicts who are unable to move without outside help (one such convict has been in the hospital for more than one year) are completely deprived of the opportunity to be in the fresh air. Other convicts, and not special personnel, are forced to take care of such convicts.

4. Convicts who end up in the hospital from minimum- and medium-security detention facilities find themselves in strict regime detention conditions, which does not correspond to the conditions in which they should have been held.

5. The hospital lacks specialized professionals, such as an otolaryngologist, who should provide necessary medical assistance on-site; instead, sick convicts wait for weeks and months, while their state of health deteriorates.

6. In the case of the absence of a specialized doctor, the penal institution is unable to provide transport and necessary accompanying escorts for all convicts so that they can be examined in civilian hospitals.

7. There is no possibility of conducting tests for the purpose of establishing CD4 cell counts and viral loads in patients with HIV/AIDS.

Based on the results of the visit, proposals were prepared for improving the situation with the provision of medical assistance at BVK-85 with the involvement of human rights organizations, specialized service organizations, and civilian medical institutions.