Issue # 23-2010. Content

The new issue’s main features include in-depth analysis of the government-proposed Police Law by a Public Verdict specialist and an article by Leonid Golovko on the questionable character of the prison reform initiated by the new command of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FPS).

As usual, we cite official statistical reports by the Penitentiary Department, and feature traditional chronicles of the Foundation in Defence of Prisoners’ Rights (FDPR) about developments and incidents within the penitentiary system.

We would recommend paying your attention to the section “The Boundaries of Incomprehension” featuring a lecture by, and an interview with, Nils Christie. The “History” section offers more of Sergey Stepanov’s absorbing chronicles of the history of Nizhny Novgorod.

The first section, “Social Punishment”, opens with official penitentiary statistics as of August 1, 2010. Yuri Alexandrov’s article “Legal Training” comments on the latest amendments to legislation regulating the judiciary, law enforcement and executive power. Igor Kholodyakov follows with a story based on the observations and reflections of a schoolteacher working in a correctional facility. An article by Boris Panteleyev gives an account of what is going on within the penitentiary system as seen by a human rights activist. Additional light on the matter is shed by a chronicle of events supplied by the FDPR. In conclusion, a collection of foreign media reports describes prison routine in different countries of the world.

A lecture by the world-renowned criminologist Nils Christie and an interview with him are to be found in the section “The Boundaries of Incomprehension”.

In the “History” section, writer Sergey Stepanov publishes more of his Nizhny Novgorod chronicles.

Finally, the section “Law and/or Justice” features three materials: a Public Verdict specialist’s comprehensive analysis of the draft Police Law; a review of the prison reform concept proposed by the government; and lawyer Leonid Golovko’s doubts as to the potential success of this reform launched by the FPS commanders.

Nevolia. Issue # 23-2010. Print version (PDF, Russian, 7.5Mb)