Russia catches up with USA on number of prison inmates

The number of prisoners in Russia has reached the level that was registered in the country five years ago, when the new legal system of the Russian Federation appeared. Experts explain the phenomenon with an increasing amount of verdicts 'of guilty' brought down against Russia criminals, The Vedomosti newspaper wrote. Russia is catching up with the United States on the number of prison inmates. It is not ruled out that it will soon leave the USA behind at this point.

Photo: Russia catches up with USA on number of prison inmates

The number of prisoners in Russia has reached 890,000 people in the first six months of the current year, the official website of the Federal Penitentiary Punishment Service says. The above-mentioned number has set a new record within the five recent years in Russia, the statistics of the service says. In 2002 the number of prisoners reduced from 980,000 to 877,000 people. The Ministry of Justice reported at that time that Russia had given the pas to the United States. The lowest quantity of prison inmates in the Russian Federation was registered in 2004 – 763,000 individuals.

The number of inmates had been decreased considerably by 2004 owing to the new Penal Code of the Russian Federation and extenuating amendments to the criminal legislation. The numbers started growing afterwards again, which displayed the denunciatory trend in the Russian legal system. Russian courts seem to be unwilling to use other penalties that are not connected with prison terms – for example communal works or restrain of freedom.

The budget of the Federal Penitentiary Punishment Service is based on the increasing number of Russian prisoners too: 1.7 billion rubles in 2008 and 2.9 billion rubles in 2009.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru