Russian prisoners are massively denied visits with their children

Prison staff interpret new internal rules in their own way

In Russian pre-trial detention centers, they began to massively refuse passage with minors. Employees refer to the new Internal Regulations, which allegedly prohibit this. But the trick is that there is nothing of the kind in the PVR. Moreover, officials of the Ministry of Justice, together with colleagues from the Federal Penitentiary Service, discussed this issue and confirmed: the children both went and will go on dates with their parents.

Why do they continue to persist in a number of pre-trial detention centers and how to deal with it – in the material of the MK observer, a member of the HRC.

Can children be allowed to visit their parents in a pre-trial detention center? This question has been raised many times in recent years. Moreover, he worried law enforcement officers, who allegedly worried about the mental state of children.

– Why should a small child know that there is a pre-trial detention center? Why would he see bars and barbed wire? – asked a representative of one of the law enforcement agencies at a meeting of human rights activists who prepared a bill on visits of children with parents without the permission of the investigator (according to current legislation, it is required). To be honest, this is manipulation. Sometimes it is vital for a child to see mom or dad. Moreover, it is the absence of this opportunity that leads to severe psychological trauma. And in cases where both mom and dad are arrested, the child suffers so seriously that many years of rehabilitation are indispensable.

– Even when they put me in the isolation ward, a child was born, – says one of the businessmen in SIZO No. 5. – He is now four years old, I would have dreamed of seeing him at least once. But the investigator does not give permission.

“I have been in prison for almost five years,” says the former owner of a Moscow travel company, now a prisoner in SIZO No. 6. “The child thinks that I am being treated in a distant hospital. Now the son has grown up, he may guess something. The worst thing is if he thinks I left him. I would give everything for the opportunity to see him, but I don’t admit guilt, no matter how much the investigator wants it (and that’s why, I think, he doesn’t allow meetings).

At the Research Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service, several years ago, they studied the impact of visits on the emotional state of prisoners, their relatives, and social ties. The conclusion is quite obvious – dating helped all participants to more easily endure the hardships of separation. But all this did not help the implementation of the bill, which was developed by the members of the HRC (including the author of these lines). The document was not even submitted to the parliament for consideration, despite the fact that it was discussed twice at a meeting of HRC members with the president. The reason is the lobby of the security forces. Dating for them is a tool of manipulation. “If you give a confession, you will see the child, if you don’t give it, no,” they tell the prisoners something like this. However, after human rights activists began to speak louder and louder about the vicious practice of the investigation, and lawyers challenged refusals to meet in court, investigators began to make concessions more often (albeit reluctantly). And then new TAPs appeared, which seem to prohibit visits with minors, even if the investigation gives the go-ahead for this.

We have several official denials at our disposal. Here, for example, is one signed by the head of SIZO No. 1 of the Kaluga Region, Gerasin, in response to a prisoner’s appeal. I quote: “According to the new TAPs, no more than two adults are allowed to meet with suspects and defendants at the same time (in the document it is highlighted in bold type – author’s note). Based on the foregoing, you have been denied a short visit with your minor children.”

It is interesting that not only in the regions the new TAP is incorrectly interpreted. In the capital’s “Matrosskaya Tishina”, prisoners were also denied visits with their children. Moreover, this approach was supported by the Moscow UFSIN. In response to a request from a lawyer, a representative of the department replied that only adults were allowed to meet with suspects and accused.

“An amazing interpretation,” says a representative of the Ministry of Justice, where I turned for clarification. – In the new TAP, “adults” were simply replaced with “adults”. That is, in fact, nothing fundamentally changed in terms of admission to dates. What makes you think you can’t let kids in? Moreover, it is contrary to federal law. The Ministry of Justice held a meeting with the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia on new TAPs, among other things, this issue was also raised. The Federal Penitentiary Service clearly understands that there is no ban.

The other day, the Directorate of Regime and Supervision of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, in response to requests from lawyers, wrote that the actions of the SIZO employees who do not let children in are unlawful. But this answer was, so to speak, not public. You won’t find it on the department’s website. That is why in some pre-trial detention centers they continue to prohibit visits of parents with children.

To be honest, I can’t believe that the employees do this not out of malice, but because of their incompetence. I noticed that this happens in those isolation wards where the investigators feel at home. What if, by agreement with them, the officers continue to insist on the prohibition of prisoners to see children? For an investigator, this would be an ideal story in general: they seem to be kind, they allow dates, but they don’t let them into the pre-trial detention center. Be that as it may, human rights activists will ask the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, so to speak, to draw organizational conclusions regarding the “illiterate” heads of the pre-trial detention center.