New special military registration for prisoners

How the military registration of prisoners will work and what information the colony will begin to provide to military registration and enlistment offices is in the Kommersant information.

How did the initiative on military registration of prisoners come about?

In June 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law that allows Russians with a criminal record to be called up for contract service during martial law or mobilization, with the exception of those sentenced for grave and especially grave crimes (terrorism, treason, espionage). The law allows entering into a contract with people who have served their sentences if their criminal record has been cleared or expunged, as well as with those who have committed crimes of minor or moderate gravity if the preliminary investigation has been suspended.

At the beginning of September 2023, the Ministry of Defense RF spoke with an initiative for special military registration for prisoners. In the draft document proposed by the department, a subclause was excluded from the Regulations on Military Registration, according to which citizens serving a sentence of imprisonment are not subject to military registration.

October 27, 2023 Russian government accepted relevant resolution. The regulation on military registration was supplemented with a new paragraph, from which it follows that special military registration of prisoners will be maintained by military registration and enlistment offices at the location of correctional institutions or pre-trial detention centers if the person is serving a sentence in the latter.

How prisoner registration will work

It follows from the resolution that colonies will have to provide lists of citizens subject to special military registration in electronic form or on paper within ten working days after receiving a prisoner, moving or releasing him.

Registration, deregistration, or changes to the documents of citizens serving sentences is carried out “without personal appearance” at the military registration and enlistment offices, “without carrying out measures for a medical examination, medical examination, as well as professional psychological selection.”

Among the information that correctional colonies must provide is:

• FULL NAME;
• Date of Birth;
• information about the article of the Criminal Code under which the citizen was convicted;
• the name of the court that issued the verdict;
• information about previous convictions;
• name and address of the colony.

Data will be verified at least once a year.

How many prisoners are there in Russia?

According to the Federal Penitentiary Service at the beginning of 2023, in the penal system of Russia there were 433 thousand prisoners. At the same time, since the beginning of 2022, the number of prisoners in the penitentiary system has decreased by 32 thousand people. A sharp decrease in the number of prisoners was observed in the fall of 2022. According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, by October 1, the number of prisoners had decreased to 453 thousand people, and by November 1 – to 439 thousand people. Accordingly, by autumn the number of prisoners decreased by 26.4 thousand people.