Running into the same trap: torture and humiliation of Russian prisoners will never correct anyone

Tens of thousands of articles and books have been written that the so-called correctional institutions in Russia not only do not correct anyone, but, on the contrary, permanently cripple the lives of their inhabitants. However, things are still there.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to talk about it. Journalist Dmitry Chernyshev gave several examples from European experience in his publication.

For example, the governor of a prison in Turku, Finland, said that recently, in order to preserve the self-esteem of prisoners, each of them is given a key to the cell. So that, leaving "his room", the convict would lock it with a key, and when returning, open the door with a key.

In Denmark, the term is not extended for escaping or attempting to escape. Any online education, wellness and cultural program. And family visits are welcome.

The governor of a prison near the Irish capital Dublin was surprised by the question of the number of prisoners in one cell. “Of course, one at a time. Can't two unfamiliar men live in the same room". In the prison of Freiburg, Germany, prisoners and prison staff are fed from the same boiler. In the Norwegian prison Halden - 252 prisoners - rapists, murderers and pedophiles. Each room has a refrigerator, TV, shower with toilet. There are no bars on the windows. There is a kitchen for every 12 prisoners. There is also a football hall, a gym with a climbing wall, a games room, a chapel, a music studio and a large library. The prison is very quiet. No fights. Prisoners are paid at the rate of £ 5.60 / hour. The only thing that reminds of a prison is a six-meter fence. As a result, in Norway, only 20% of prisoners go back to prison after release. For comparison: in the UK - 50-60%.

An amazing story recently happened in this country: a journalist was convicted of published material containing false information. He was asked to choose a time when it would be convenient for him to go to jail. He chose autumn and voluntarily came to serve his sentence. The journalist did not even think to run away, the authorities did not doubt that he would come at the appointed time.

And what about us? Chernyshev writes:

“In Russia, the zones are therefore called corrective labor colonies (CLC). Although, of course, it would be more correct to call the CLC - a torture-sadistic concentration camp. A distributor of tuberculosis, a haven for sadists and an enrichment for FSIN employees. Instead of making amends, we get crippled, frightened, and embittered people. And for criminals, the zone is a place for exchanging experience and improving qualifications. The recidivism rate in Russian prisons is incredibly high - almost 50%. in Europe - only 9%. The average term of imprisonment in Europe is 1 year and 8 months, in Russia it is several times longer.

In Russia, there are many seriously ill people who justify the torture conditions in the colonies with words like: “This is not a sanatorium for you”, “You have committed a crime - answer” and other gnus and chthony. Suffer, they say. These moral mutants are ready to approve of anything - breaking the stage, torture by hunger, cold and insomnia. Serves you, criminals. These people do not understand that in fact the jailers are committing the worst crime.

Let me remind you about article 21 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: 1. Personal dignity is protected by the state. NOTHING can be grounds for belittling it. 2. NOBODY should be subjected to torture, violence, other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment...”. By the way, Chernyshev recalled the Finnish experience:

“At the beginning of the 20th century, Finland was called the country of prisons, and crime was breaking all records. However, having recovered from the civil and military upheavals, the Finns realized that no matter how much they plant, the criminal situation does not improve. In the 60s, a large-scale study was carried out in the country with Finnish methodology and meticulousness, as a result of which it was proved that the severity of punishment and the level of crime are not related. The growth of crime depends only on the political instability of the country, and the terms of imprisonment can be reduced without a serious risk of an increase in crime.

The result was the conclusion: stop wasting energy and money on expensive programs to protect the population from criminals. The best criminal policy is social policy, if you do not invest in schools, universities and hospitals, you will have to finance prisons.

A system of transformations was developed, from reforming laws to solving minor everyday problems, thanks to which by the beginning of the 90s all indicators of crime were reduced to a minimum. Today the number of prisoners in Finland does not exceed 60 people per 100 thousand of the population (in Russia - 450 people per 100 thousand)..."

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In the comments to this post, readers tried to explain this nasty state of affairs:

- Our country is ruled by people whose outlook is exactly the same as in the 60s of the last century. They will never understand why to do this. Their ideas are approximately as follows: in order for a horse to carry it, it must be beaten very hard. They are having fun with aviary hunting, and you are talking about humanism...

- All thieves' romance and the power of thieves rests on one big truth and truth - a prisoner in Russia is not a man and after gaining freedom he will not be a man.

It is in our power to create human conditions for them, so that at least “there” they would be people. On freedom, they will still be second class. This, with all the desire, cannot be corrected. After all, I myself would not have recruited a former convict. So the punishment for them is already severe. And so although the situation will begin to change with snail steps.

True, there were, and quite a few, people who doubted the author's pathos:

- Yeah. The Skopinsky maniac still lacked the keys to the camera. So he would have realized everything at once and would not have said at the exit that it would be necessary to deal with the victim again. Prisons should be divided into human prisons, where those who have stumbled for the first time are serving and not on violent charges, and yes, there you can and should demand respect for dignity, and with non-humans absolutely do not care how other non-humans will treat them. The main thing is that the keys to the cameras are not given...