Kommersant: The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia again offered Rostec the services of prisoners

"On January 23, the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Arkady Gostev, in a letter to the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov, offered assistance to convicts in the manufacture and supply of products for the needs of the state corporation for the development, production and export of industrial products", - Kommersant reports.

According to the publication, Rostec has sent a letter to the enterprises within its perimeter for consideration. The agency's source claims that "the possibilities of such cooperation are being worked out in many directions at once". The interlocutor of the publication did not specify which enterprises were in question, but said that "this workforce cannot be involved directly in the assembly of missiles or aircraft". Nevertheless, prisoners may be attracted to perform certain types of work that do not provide for a highly qualified performer. In addition, ICS can supply containers, workwear, "other types of simple products", "assist in the construction of facilities".

According to Kommersant, in 2017 it became known for the first time that Rostec intends to use the labor of prisoners under an agreement with the Federal Penitentiary Service, and later information appeared about the employment of 250 convicts in the Uralvagonzavod State Corporation (UVZ). They were attracted to working specialties, such as a turner, a milling cutter, a grinder, a drill and so on. In 2020, the Federal Penitentiary Service signed an agreement with Sberbank to work on artificial intelligence.

In the aviation industry, the publication was told that such cooperation is possible if the Federal Penitentiary Service can "organize the work of prisoners with secondary technical education," who theoretically will be in demand "in simple working specialties, which are sorely lacking in every enterprise." Another interlocutor of the agency excludes such a possibility, pointing out that "aviation is the highest responsibility," therefore, the work of convicts is poorly connected with the work of airlines.

A representative of the telecom equipment market did not rule out that prisoners could be involved in the production of components of equipment, but not final products. The interlocutor of Kommersant believes that in this case, women's work will be more in demand, for example, when soldering components to boards, conveyor assembly. According to him, women are more patient, more diligent and more accurate than men.

KAMAZ and AVTOVAZ did not answer the question of the publication, but in 2021 KAMAZ talked about bringing eight prisoners to work, later — "a little more than ten". The company also considered the possibility of employing more than 100 people with a total deficit of 4 thousand employees. In another carmaker, it is considered possible for prisoners to work at the enterprise, but after training. He said that in some specialties, training lasts six months, and the company itself is invested in personnel training. In the case of convicts, the prospects for cooperation are "uncertain". He added that the factories have a request for various jobs that do not require preparation. A short-term training program in the specialty in separate work areas is also possible.

JSC Russian Railways involved prisoners in the construction of the BAM on the initiative of the government — only 86 people.

Nikolay Titov, co-founder of a.t.Legal, believes that the legislation provides for significant expenses in case of involvement of convicts' labor: for a convoy, provision of overalls and PPE. Since 2022, prisoners are prohibited from being employed in institutions where weapons are stored.

Criminal Defense Fir partner Anna Golub believes that the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia initiative can become a successful example of the humanization of the criminal law and the resocialization of prisoners. At the same time, in her opinion, many factors will need to be taken into account, such as the regime of detention, the place of serving the sentence, the severity of crimes.

"During the construction of buildings and highways, it is impossible to ensure the complete isolation of the prisoner, the lawyer believes. In addition, the number of escorts will have to exceed the number of prisoners to ensure security. All this is difficult to implement", - Golub summed up.