Russian Corrections Analysis

Matthew D Smith
3/22/2015
Corrections
"Comparative Analysis of the Russian Correctional System"
Dr. Dippolito

Within the United States, we enjoy a somewhat lenient and understanding correctional
system. What many people do not understand, is that many countries do not operate under a
system such as the Unites States, innocent until proven guilty, and a trial by your peers are two
examples of pleasures that we experience within the United States. In comparison to another
country, such as Russia, we can see that the two systems vary drastically and in the opinion of
United States citizens, Russian corrections are cruel and sometimes harsh. Although historically
this holds true, there has been a recent reform within the system and things are slowly becoming
more "accepted" worldwide.
Russian correctional facilities, historically, were known for being cruel and harsh. The
overall goal of the Russian facilities were to punish inmates and derive a form of cheap labor
while the inmates were housed. Prison were set in higher latitudes of the country, causing many
facilities to be extremely cold and uncomfortable. The prisoners were expected to work, whether
the work included any mining of minerals, cutting lumber, or even possibly construction of more
structures. The ideal behind this was that there people were paying back the community and
country by righting the wrongs that they had committed, with hard labor. Correctional facilities
were viewed as more of a labor camo, housing all necessities for the tasks at hand such as
bathroom facilities, laundry facilities, and recreational facilities. Under these conditions, no
rights of the prisoners or their families were considered, and many human rights violations
occurred.

"The health of many convicted prisoners deteriorated sharply
while they were serving their custodial sentences, why family ties broke
down, why many prisoners’ attitudes became more negative and they
were drawn into the prison sub-culture. At the same time, they lost
many of the useful social skills which were essential for life at
liberty" (prisonstudies.org)
Under this system, the Russian corrections ideal was not that of a rehabilitative approach
such as that of the United States, but more of a punishment and payment to the country approach.
This cruel and unusual approach was most notorious during the Stalin era, under the Russian
government agency "Gulag".
Unofficially the Gulag system was created after the failed assassination attempt of
Vladimir Lenin in 1918, the officially adopted system was established in 1930 and ended in
1960. Although officially ended with the death of communist leader Joseph Stalin, it is noted that
there are reports that the system was still continued past 1960. The Gulag was established after
the failed Bolshevik revolution, as an alternative to Russian prison. The Gulag held prisoners of
all varieties, from simple thieves to murderers. Under the Russian system someone could spend
upwards of fifteen years for stealing something as small as food. The Gulag also held opponents
of differing political parties or those thought to be a threat to the communist regime of Joseph
Stalin. Instead of heading to a normal facility, those apprehended or accused were sent straight to
these working camps or sorts, to power the communist machine.

"In addition the Gulag also held political prisoners, those who were
considered enemies of the Soviet regime; anyone who stood out as a
small threat was sent to a penal camp. Many innocent people were
sentenced to the Gulag for minor “crimes” such as coming to work late
three times (considered sabotage) or telling a small joke about a
government official (punishable by up to 25 years)". (russiapedia.rt.com)
Would be prisoner were loaded onto rail cars down the railroad tracks and away from
the general public, the arrested of those accused would occur under the sheet of darkness and
many did not receive a fair trial, if any trial was given at all. The transportation of the prisoner
were their first test, as the harsh weather conditions consumed the lives of prisoners before the
camp was even reached. The inmates were not given any clothing, whatever they were wearing
at the time of their arrest was what they had for their stay at a labor camp.
During World War II, Gulag populations declined. Thousands of prisoners that were held
within the labor camps were assigned to the war to fight Nazi Germany, the inmates were placed
upon the front lines of major conflicts and instructed to fight. Unfortunately, many had little or
no training at all and this was as good as throwing a snowball at a brick wall as far as
effectiveness is concerned. The prisoners suffered some of the highest casualty rates during the
war and many lost their lives in a cruel and unjust method. Immediately following the war, the
number of inmates in prison camps and Russian working colonies drastically increased to
previous numbers, reaching around 2.5 million prisoners by the start of the 1950's.One of the
driving forces behind the sharp influx post World War was an overhaul on the legislation of
property offenses in 1947, because of this thousands of civilians found themselves being
sentenced in excess of 10-15 years based purely upon simple theft, embezzlement, and other

minor crimes. The cost of the Gulags was so inefficient that regardless of the output that
prisoners accounted for, the camps were generally never fully compensated nor financially
sound. The manual labor would often times be for not, or wasted upon completion by inmates.
Trees that were felled in the vast forests began to rot if not quickly taken to the mills, and canals
and railroad tracks were never fully utilized. The quality of the work was very poor in general,
many of the inmates had received no formal training prior to their incarceration, and very few
had any prior experience. The work produced was purely manual labor, and entirely inefficient
despite the prisoners best efforts. Despite this, when a prisoner was deemed unfit for work or was
accused to not be producing enough or the desired results, they would be marched out into a line
and executed via a soviet machine gun. The life of these labor camps continued until it was
found that the Gulag system was inefficient and produced poor results, after these findings the
system was reportedly abandoned and thrown away. overall, the Gulag system had not produced
the economic results that were desired, instead of free cheap labor that was expected to sustain
and enhance the infrastructure of soviet Russia, Stalin received sub-par railroad lines, rotting
trees and canals that were often too shallow for most commercial barges and boats. In the
process of the lesson, it was estimated that the Soviet Union was directly responsible for
anywhere between 1 million to 15 million people, the results being muddled and varying from
different sources within Russian correctional reports.
Although the Gulags were reportedly disassembled, the harsh environment and notoriety
of Russian prisons is still nothing to scoff at in today’s world. Conditions in current labor camps
are still sincerely bleak, and the housing of those accused in pretrial detention centers are
arguably worse. The Russian government has overall failed at creating an adequate bail system
so the pretrial detention centers have been extremely overcrowded and backed up. By the end of

1994, 233,500 people, give or take, were being held in the pretrial detention center. That number
was actually over 20% higher than the entire prison population reported at that time. Those
people that were being held were sometimes prolonged from trail for so long that the wait was
longer than the time that they will have spent if they were immediately sentenced and moved to a
prison facility. The general population of said facilities were
"Total prison population was estimated at slightly more than 1 million
people, of whom about 600,000 were held in labor camps. Of the latter
number, about 21,600 were said to be women and about 19,000 to be
adolescents. Among the entire prison population in 1994, about half
were incarcerated for violent crimes, 60 percent were repeat offenders,
and more than 15 percent were alcoholics or drug
addicts."(photius.com)
Just like the Gulags had operated within the Stalin era, the corrective labor institutions
attributed substantially to the Russian economy. "In the early 1990s, industrial output in the
camps reached an estimated US$100 million, and forest-based camps added about US$27
million, chiefly from the production of commercial lumber, railroad ties, and summer

cabins."(photius.com) Unfortunately, just like the period in which the united Sates moved out of
its "steel mill era", so too did the Russians move out of their state infrastructure era. Due to the
decline in the Russian economy during the 1990's the camps call for a continuous supply began
to decline and it was estimates that over 200,000 convicts were left without work inside of these
labor camps. Because of this it was estimates that those labor camps were operating at around
50% more than their listed capacity for incarcerated individuals.
Despite the movement away from an overly harsh Gulag style prison like those of the
Stalin era, perhaps one of the most well-known and harsh prisons currently in Russia, is the
"Black Dolphin" prison. The name black dolphin was coined from a large black dolphin statue
that sits in front of the correctional facility, the statue was built by the inmates that were housed
within. Upon being sentenced to the facility, prisoners are blindfolded and kept that way until
they arrive, this prevents them from getting any surrounding views of the prison or the route to
get there so as to prevent and quell any possible escapes. While being held in the facility,
prisoners are kept behind steel doors and are not permitted to sit or lay down until the end of the
day when they are instructed to go to sleep. The prisoners are allowed to leave the cells only for
daily exercise, being led to the large cage in handcuffs and a blindfold. After approximately an
hour and a half they are led back to their cells and are forced again to stand for the remainder of
the day. Inmates are served food four times per day, within the sustenance coming in the form of
soup each and every time. The only contact that comes with the outside world comes in the form
of magazines and newspapers, occasionally a radio to keep up to date on happenings within the
country. Although not considered an "upside" by most, it should be noted that only the most
serious offenders are placed within the black dolphin. Cannibals, child molesters, serial killers,

and other offenders of that nature find themselves within the facility located in "sol-iletsk"
Russia, along the Kazakhstan border. This prison is actually still in use today.
Currently, the Russian criminal justice system has made attempts to move in the right
direction, "moving to a capitalist market economy, pluralist democracy, and a state under the rule
of law and eliminating the worst abuses of the Soviet criminal justice system."(law.jrank.org)
Russia has attempted to reduce its dependence on local officials and make its judiciary system
self-governing, while introducing adversarial procedure and trial by jury like that of the United
States. It should be also noted that Russia has attempted to strengthen defendant’s right to
counsel, and also attempt to protect against abusive practices from law enforcement officials.
Despite these new concepts and attempts at "modernizing the Russian system, it seems that there
is still a problem yet to be discovered. As Russian citizens have slowly been introduced greater
freedoms and rights since the 1990's, especially intrusions from the Russian government they
have experienced high rates of illegal activity and crime across the board. Namely, murder,
white-collar crime, and common theft have been on the rise, and although the Russian
government has attempted to understand this through special programs and studies conducted by
professionals within the criminal justice system, the crime rate continues to be a problem due to
the lack of an effective and ever present law enforcement. "Reforms gradually appeared in
prison administration, the rights of those accused of crimes, and the introduction of trial by jury,
but beginning in 1993 legislation and executive decrees increasingly had the objective of
strengthening the arbitrary powers of government over its citizens in the name of national
security."(photius.com)

"Under the constitution, judges of the three highest courts serve for life
and are appointed by the Federation Council after nomination by the
president. The president appoints judges at the next level, the federal
district courts. The minister of justice is responsible for appointing judges
to regional and city courts. However, in practice many appointments
below the national level still are made by the chief executives of
subnational jurisdictions, a practice that has perpetuated local political
influence on judges' decisions."(countrystudies.us)
While attempting to rework their system the general opinion from other sources seems to be that
Russia suffers a severe shortage of individuals experienced in the workings of a Western-style
legal system.
Overall, the Russian criminal justice system has come a long way from the days of the
soviet era Gulag camps. Although prisoners are now not subject to the machine gun firing squad
it seems that there is still reform to be had. A functioning and effective bail system is needed to
streamline the process and keep Russian labor facilities from becoming overcrowded. While the
labor camps seem to look good on paper, as far as output and economic contributions are
concerned, there seems to be a hiccup in the system as far as infrastructure and possible work for
those incarcerated. Compared to the United States correctional system, Russia is a harsh and
sometimes cruel place with regards to the inmates and their civil and fundamental rights. Poor
housing with facilities, crammed cells, poor food, and long work hour or heavy labor await those
that commit crimes within the system. In conclusion, although Russia has made very modest
attempts at restoring the rights of those accused and convicted of crimes, serious reform is still

needed for it to become a full-fledged and functional correctional system like its western
counterparts.
Works Cited

Hill, Gary. Russia Correctional System. 12th ed. Vol. 28. N.p.: National Criminal Justice
Reference System, n.d. Print.
Kalinin, Yuri Ivanovich. The Russian Penal System: Past, Present and Future. London:
S.n., 2002. Nov. 2002. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.
"Of Russian Origin: The GULAG." The GULAG – Russiapedia Of Russian Origin. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
"Russia - The Judiciary." Russia - The Judiciary. U.S. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 2
Apr. 2015.
"Russia Prisons - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current
Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System." Russia Prisons
- Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International
Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System. The Library of Congress Country
Studies; CIA World Factbook, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Seiter, Richard P. Corrections: An Introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Prentice Hall, 2005. Print.
Thaman, Stephen C. "Comparative Criminal Law and Enforcement: Russia - Criminal
Procedure, The Criminal Investigation, Fair Trial And Independent Judiciary, The Admissibility
Of Evidence." - JRank Articles. Law Library, Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

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