“Wearing a robe over a fur coat!” Federal Penitentiary Service shows miracles of ingenuity in the fight against covid

Lawyer Anna Stavitskaya is perplexed in her blog about another batch of bans that Russian jailers have introduced, allegedly to prevent the pandemic from penetrating the country's correctional institutions:

“All lawyers know that as soon as the incidence of corona climbs, our valiant Federal Penitentiary Service issues another order on measures to prevent this incidence in the pre-trial detention center. These measures are seen by the Federal Penitentiary Service solely as restrictions on the rights to visit relatives, to transfers, to visit lawyers. Each pre-trial detention center comes up with its own outfits for lawyers, which, in their opinion, will save those sitting in the pre-trial detention center from the crown. In Lefortovo, you must be sure to wear a bathrobe and a mask, how the bathrobe will protect you from the corona, I don’t know, apparently he is afraid of him. In 99/1, full vestments are required - a jumpsuit, a mask and almost goggles are a must. In the Volokolamsk pre-trial detention center a year ago, you had to be in a dressing gown, mask, hat, gloves and shoe covers. But how does the Federal Penitentiary Service actually prevent the spread of the corona ?! But like this.

I'm currently on a jury trial. The other day the defendants were brought in and one of them had a temperature of 38. The temperature had been there for several days, he called the doctor, he came with valerian. Despite the temperature, he was not given a certificate of impossibility to participate in the hearing and was taken to court in a terrible state, endangering other defendants, escorts, lawyers, etc. We must pay tribute to the judge, who called an ambulance and the doctors diagnosed - suspicion of the crown! But parcels cannot be handed over, and lawyers have to go to jail dressed up like clowns!”

Officially, according to the leading analyst of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Moscow Anna Karetnikova , the situation now looks like this:

“Bad news for those who care, but forced. Since yesterday, a regime of special conditions has been reintroduced in Moscow pre-trial detention centers in connection with a new round of the pandemic.

Short:

- visits to courts are limited, emphasis on video communication;

- short-term visits with relatives and transfers, except for medical ones, are limited;

- visits to the PMC and other similar persons and bodies are limited;

- lawyers, defenders - through the glass, in investigative cases - in exceptional cases, in defense;

- the reception of citizens by the management of the pre-trial detention center is suspended;

- it is not entirely clear where only women taken into custody and former employees will go, but as before, all newly arrested people go to SIZO-7 and are kept there for 2 weeks.

I hope we will overcome and return to normal operation.”

Lawyer Natalya Zemskova is sure that “such senile measures undermine the entire policy of the country to convince the population of the effectiveness of vaccination”: “How does a prison differ from a theater and a museum in this case? Why is a QR code enough to go there, but here you also need a Batman suit or a medical gown?”

Member of the PMC of Moscow Eva Merkacheva testifies:

“We haven’t visited cells for almost two years. Finally, we were allowed a cell-by-cell tour, and, frankly, we were just stunned. (...) After all, not only in the hospital, but also on the main buildings of Matrosskaya Tishina, we found prisoners with oncology who no longer get out of bed. Here is a prisoner with metastases lying in a common cell, and there he will cross the limit. Yes Yes! We found that the cells were overcrowded. In every cell of Matroska we saw people on the floor. They don't even have cots…”

Meanwhile, as journalist and human rights activist Zoya Svetova writes in Novaya Gazeta : “Anti-covid restrictions on meetings between lawyers and their clients have already become the talk of the town. They are discussed in lawyer chats, and defenders treat them differently. Some are humorous, some are outraged. It should be borne in mind that in Moscow pre-trial detention centers, depending on their subordination, the rules of passage differ.

True, although both Lefortovo and Kremlin Central (Matrosskaya Tishina 99/1) are subordinate to the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, lawyers come to Lefortovo to meet with their clients in masks, in medical white coats worn directly over fur coats and coats (it's cold in the office). And in SIZO 99/1, defenders are required to buy special protective suits, goggles and other bells and whistles ... "

Lawyers actively comment on this wild situation:

- Just yesterday morning in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center I asked this question to its employees - how does a dressing gown protect against covid? For some, this robe is worn over outerwear, for others, under it, in general, sheer props

- I'm pulling on a fur coat - it's cold in the offices. And once I forgot my bathrobe. There were no bathrobes in the nearby pharmacies and I had to buy a raincoat.

- We found a way. The pharmacy has a disposable sheet. Cut a hole in the center for the head. And gird up. And here is the robe!