Strasbourg, 30 July 2001 RF/CE/Prisons (2001) 1 rus vi\2001\rf-ce-prisons (2001) 1 e

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1 Strasbourg, 30 July 2001 RF/CE/Prisons (2001) 1 rus vi\2001\rf-ce-prisons (2001) 1 e English only STEERING GROUP ON THE REFORM OF THE PRISON SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION 13 th meeting Lisbon, 29 May 2 June 2001 Summary Report Introduction 1. The Steering Group on the Reform of the Prison System of the Russian Federation held its 13 th meeting in Lisbon on 29 May 2001 with Mr H. J. Bartsch, Head of the Department of Crime Problems, in the chair. The meeting took place within the co-operation programme for the reform of the legal system in the Russian Federation which contains a project on prison reform and crime prevention. Participants learned with much regret that Mr Kenneth Neale, member of the Group since its creation in 1995, had been compelled to resign for health reasons. 2. The meeting was followed by a seminar on prison regimes from 30 May to 2 June in which the members of the Steering Group participated. On the occasion of the seminar, the participants were invited to prison visits in Lisbon and Alcoentre, in order to gain first-hand experience of the regimes applied in the Portuguese penitentiary system. 3. The list of participants in the 13 th meeting and the programme for the seminar are appended to this report.

2 - 2 - I. Steering Group meeting 4. The Steering Group reviewed its current and future work programme, in the light of developments in the reform of the Russian prison system. i) Recent developments 5. The Group took note of information, provided by the Russian members, on developments relating to, or having repercussions on, the reform of the prison system. - As a result of the amnesty law adopted in May 2000 and the legislative changes of March 2001 providing for the reduction of the length of detention for remanded as well as convicted prisoners and the introduction of alternatives to imprisonment and early release, the prison population has continued to decrease: there were 960,000 prisoners in April 2001 and 925,000 in May 2001, considerably fewer than last year. A further reduction by some 200,000 prisoners is expected over the next three years. - The number of inmates affected by tuberculosis has also decreased to some 90, Further legislative changes, proposed by the Minister of Justice, concern the introduction of post-release resocialisation programmes (for the 290,000 persons leaving prison every year), the after-care of released TB prisoners by creating regional medical centres for that purpose, the setting-up of a probation service, especially for young offenders, extending the use of alternatives to imprisonment, and reducing the transfer of prisoners within the country in order to help them maintain family and social ties. - In order to accelerate the reform of the prison system, the Prison Administration s 2001 budget has been doubled. - In his Address to the Nation, made in Parliament in March 2001, President Putin emphasised the need for prison reform. This was the first time the President of the Russian Federation included the problems related to the enforcement of sentences in his Address to the Nation, thus underlining the importance he attaches to them. ii) Implementation of the Group s work programme 6. With a view to implementing the work programme the Group had established at its previous meetings, in particular with regard to the priority areas it had identified staff involved in the enforcement of sentences, reduction of the prison population, and prison regimes the Group discussed the following arrangements.

3 The Group took note of the preparations and the programme for the seminar on prison regimes to be held from 30 May to 2 June 2001, immediately following the Steering Group s meeting (cf. paras below). It asked Mr Luís Miranda Pereira to chair the seminar and Mr Rob Canton to act as the general rapporteur. 8. With a view to preparing its future work programme, the Group considered possible follow-up activities to the seminars and workshops it had organised on subjects relating to those aspects of prison reform which it had identified as priority areas (cf. para 6 above): reduction of the prison population (London, November 1999), involvement of NGOs in the care and aftercare of juvenile prisoners (Moscow, March 2000), and the effects of sentencing on the size of the prison population (Moscow, October 2000). It also took note of the proceedings of the conference on humanisation of penal policy organised in Veliky Novgorod in October 2000 by the Clemency Commission of the Presidential Administration, which addressed, in particular, the problems arising in connection with the great number of prisoners sentenced for life. In this context, the Group also considered the work currently carried out by the Council of Europe Expert Committee on the management of life-sentenced and other long-term prisoners (PC-LT). 9. In conclusion, the Group agreed to organise a seminar on long-term imprisonment, its repercussions on the size of the prison population and possibilities for increased use of community sanctions. The issues to be addressed would include: defining what are long-term prisoners, managing this category of inmates, providing for their early release, setting-up an agency to supervise the enforcement of community sanctions, in particular community service, and the effects of long-term imprisonment on prisoners and society. The rapporteurs would be asked to have particular regard to the European Rules on community sanctions and measures, contained in Recommendation n R (92) 16, and the recently adopted Recommendation Rec(2000)22 on improving the implementation of the European Rules, and to take into account the work presently carried out by Committee PC-LT. 10. The Russian members of the Group announced their intention to organise this seminar in St Petersburg in early Concerning tuberculosis in Russian prisons, the Group was informed about developments since its last meeting (see doc. RF/CE/Prisons (2000) 4, para 10): the Council of Europe staff member, attached as a legal expert to the WHO Office in Moscow since December 2000, represents the Organisation on the Thematic Working Group on tuberculosis in prisons which operates under the umbrella of the High-level Working Group on tuberculosis in Russia. He has assisted in setting-up pilot projects in three regions: in Vladimir (where a WHO TB project including prisons already exists), in Veliky Novgorod (where there is an ongoing WHO TB project that does not cover prisons), and in Lipietsk (where there is no international project on TB control so-far). Mr Premyslaw Musialkowski, the Council of Europe official in Moscow, will be invited to attend the Steering Group s next meeting in order to report on progress made in the effort to control tuberculosis in Russian prisons. 12. The Group agreed to hold its next (14 th meeting) in early 2002 in connection with the seminar on long-term imprisonment (cf. paras 9-10 above).

4 - 4 - II. Seminar 13. The Group s meeting was followed, from 30 May to 2 June 2001, by a seminar on prison regimes. It was opened by Mr João Figueiredo, Director-General of the Portuguese Prison Service and was chaired by Mr Luís Miranda Pereira, member of the Steering Group. 14. The seminar was held in the central prison of Lisbon which greatly facilitated personal contacts and exchanges of information and views with Portuguese prison administrators. During the seminar, participants paid several visits to different departments of the Lisbon prison as well as to the penitentiary establishment in Alcoentre. 15. The full programme of the seminar is appended to this report (Appendix II). 16. The report on the seminar, containing a summary account of the discussions and the conclusions, was prepared by Mr Rob Canton, member of the Steering Group. It has been issued as document RF/CE/Prisons (2001) 2.

5 - 5 - APPENDIX I LIST OF PARTICIPANTS in the 13 th meeting of the Steering Group and the seminar on prison regimes RUSSIAN FEDERATION Ministry of Justice Mr Yury KALININ Mr Vladimir YALUNIN Mr Oleg FILIMONOV Mr Viktor POPOV Mr Leonid SHOSTAK Deputy Minister of Justice Director General of the Prison Administration (GUIN) Deputy Director, GUIN Head of the Vologda Institute of Law and Economy Head of the Saratov Regional Prison Administration (UIN) Office of the Prosecutor-General Mr Yury SHCHERBANYENKO Head of the Department for the Control of the Enforcement of Sentences Presidential Administration Mrs Anna DERKOVSKAYA Expert, Directorate of State and Law Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mrs Tatyana SULITSKAYA Head of European Division, Department for International Humanitarian Co-operation and Human Rights

6 - 6 - PORTUGAL Mr João FIGUEIREDO Mrs Maria-José MATOS Mr Adriano CRUZ Director-General of the Prison Service Director of Services, Prison Service Governor of Lisbon Prison Mr António LEAL DE OLIVEIRA Governor of Alcoentre Prison The seminar was also attended by some 25 prison administrators. COUNCIL OF EUROPE EXPERTS Mr Norman BISHOP, former Head of Research Group, National Prison and Probation Administration (Sweden) Mr Luís MIRANDA PEREIRA, former President of the Institute for Social Resettlement (Portugal) Mr Vincent THEIS, Governor of Sandweiler Penitentiary Centre (Luxembourg) Mr Esa VESTERBACKA, Deputy Director General of Prison Administration, Ministry of Justice (Finland) Mr Klaus KOEPSEL, President of Rheinland Prison Administration (Germany) Mr Rob CANTON, Programme Manager, Probation Service (United Kingdom) SECRETARIAT Mr Hans-Jürgen BARTSCH, Head of the Department of Crime Problems Mrs Lilia KOLOMBET, Administrative Officer, Department of Crime Problems

7 - 7 - APPENDIX II Seminar on prison regimes Lisbon, 30 May 2 June 2001 PROGRAMME Wednesday, 30 May h 00 Opening session Statements by: Mr João FIGUEIREDO, Director-General of the Portuguese Prison Service Mr Yuri KALININ, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation Mr Hans-Jürgen BARTSCH, Head of the Department of Crime Problems, Council of Europe 11h 00 The Russian experience (I): development of regimes in the penitentiary system Mr Vladimir YALUNIN, Director-General of the Prison Administration (GUIN) 12h 00 The Portuguese experience Mr João FIGUEIREDO, Director-General of the Prison Service 13h 00 14h 00 15h 00 Lunch Visit to a department of Lisbon Prison CPT recommendations relating to prison regimes Mr Norman BISHOP, former Head of Research, National Prison and Probation Administration of Sweden 16h 00 The Russian experience (II): improving the legal basis for prison regimes Mr Oleg FILIMONOV, Deputy Director of the Prison Administration (GUIN) 17h 00 The Finnish experience Mr Esa VESTERBACKA, Deputy Director-General of the Prison Administration

8 - 8 - Thursday, 31 May h 00 The Russian experience (III): new training programmes for prison staff Mr Viktor POPOV, Head of the Vologda Institute of Law and Economy 11h 00 The Austrian experience Ms Irene KOECK, Senior Public Prosecutor, Federal Ministry of Justice 12h00 The Russian experience (IV): humanising the enforcement of penal sanctions Mr Leonid SHOSTAK, Head of the Saratov Regional Prison Administration (UIN) 13h 00 14h 00 15h 00 Lunch Visit to a department of Lisbon Prison The Luxembourg experience Mr Vincent THEIS, Governor of Luxembourg Penitentiary 16h 00 The German experience Mr Klaus KOEPSEL, President of Rheinland Prison Administration 17h 00 The British experience: security, good order and justice the importance of regimes Mr Rob CANTON, Programme Manager, Probation Service Friday, 1 June h 00 The Russian experience (V): supervision of prison regimes Mr Yuri SHCHERBANYENKO, Head of the Department for the Supervision of Enforcement of Sentences, Office of the Prosecutor General 11h 00 12h 30 General discussion and conclusions Closing session

9 - 9-13h 00 14h 00 Lunch Visit to a department of Lisbon Prison Saturday, 2 June h 00 10h 00 12h 30 14h 00 Departure from Hotel Amazónia Lisboa Visit to Alcoentre Prison Lunch Afternoon programme