Issue No. 25-2011. Content

In this issue, we would recommend paying your attention to the section “Behind the Wall” which describes psychiatric maltreatment of prison inmates, and not missing the beginning of prisoner Eduard Mikhailov’s autobiographic novel “The Chui Valley”.

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.

The first section, “Social Punishment”, opens with official penitentiary statistics as of March 1, 2011. Yuri Alexandrov’s column “Legal Training” comments on the latest amendments to legislation regulating the judiciary, law enforcement and executive power. This is followed by the Council of Europe’s penitentiary statistics as of September 1, 2009. A story by Alec D. Epstein describes the case of Nikolai Avdyushenkov and highlights one of the most sensitive problems in cases where people are accused of extremist activity – the problem of incompetent expert opinions supplied to law courts.

Human Rights Committee head Andrei Babushkin describes the work of organisations administering public control over the police. Writer Vladimir Smirnov, currently serving a term of imprisonment, publishes his “Prison Sketches” – masterly descriptions of everyday life in a prison ward. These are followed by the FDPR chronicles about developments and incidents within the penitentiary system, and an anthology of foreign media reports about prison life in different countries of the world. The section closes with a collective complaint by inmates of Penal Colony No.1 in the Republic of Komi, reprinted from the Prisoners’ Union’s website.

The section “Behind the Wall” features Alexander Avgust’s story “The Speech Therapist” and data provided by the St. Petersburg Civil Commission on Human Rights about instances of psychiatric violence against prisoners.

The section “Sit and Read” opens with the first part of Eduard Mikhailov’s autobiographic novel “The Chui Valley, or A Farewell to Childhood”.

Nevolia. Issue # 25-2011. Print version (PDF, Russian, 549 Kb)