Amid allegations of prisoner torture, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service official has plan to cut recidivism

Russia’s prison system has been having a rough time lately. In late July, a video leaked to the press showing more than a dozen guards torturing an inmate in Yaroslavl, and the footage has precipitated a long, hard look at the dozens of other prisoner-abuse reports from facilities across the country.

Fyodor Ushkov, the Federal Penitentiary Service’s acting head of educational, social, and psychological work, has proposed a new initiative for Russia’s prison system: the creation of a new service to support convicts once they reenter society with help from psychologists, lawyers, social workers, and “many other specialists.”

Where would this new agency fit within Russia’s existing bureaucracy? Ushkov isn’t sure. In his interview with the state news agency TASS (which doesn’t mention a word about torture allegations), the federal official says those details need to be determined in future discussions.