According to Olga Shepelyova, a human rights expert at the Public Interest Law Institute, measures taken by the government to control the situation in prisons are not enough to tackle the issue of prison abuse.
”Prevention of inmates’ abuse is a complex issue which may not be solved only by reducing the number of the prison population. It is very important to create a transparent system of independent control over conditions of detention and the treatment of prisoners,” Shepelyova told RT.
“Recently, the first step in this direction was made and new legislation was passed which creates public observation commissions – groups of independent experts which have access to detention facilities – and their task is to observe what is going on there,” she added.
Shepelyova explained that the activities of these commissions have certain limitations. For example, they are not able to visit detention facilities without prior announcement and receiving approval from the administration of the detention center.