Human rights activists of Uzbekistan managed to improve conditions for prisoners
It took the human rights group more than a year of persistent demands to improve the conditions in the penal colony No. 42. The leader of the women’s initiative group for human rights, Tatyana Dovlatova, notes the contribution of volunteers who made public unsanitary conditions.
According to Tatyana Dovlatova, women prisoners lived in terrible conditions and were afraid to complain. “We sent pictures to the Women’s Committee, because in the colony there are about a hundred women prisoners. “No one found time to come and see,” says the human rights activist. “During trips abroad, it is easier for our officials to talk about reforms in the prison system.”
The rights of prisoners have been monitored for dozens of trips since October of last year. According to T. Dovlatova, only after complaints to various instances, publications on the Internet and a change of the colony’s head, the situation began to change for the better. “The arrangement of the life of prisoners began with the installation of video cameras in places of possible escape. The real repair began in the spring,” Dovlatova said. “Now there is a household block with clean walls, tile is everywhere. Warm water was appeared in the women’s hut. However, half of the new taps no longer work.”
The human rights activist was invited to the celebration by the new head of the colony. An event unbelievable for the penitentiary system of Uzbekistan was intended to show the process of humanization in the country’s colonies.
“If we had not made a noise on the network, if there was no support of journalists and not close location of the colony to Tashkent, then changes would hardly have begun. Nevertheless, if I can find kind words for the head of the colony, then I will not say anything good to his subordinates, especially the deputy for the regime,” the human rights activist said. “They both humiliated the prisoners and continue to humiliate them. Walls can be painted, but it’s much more difficult to change the consciousness of the “regimers” themselves. We always remind them that “one is never safe from poverty or prison”.
Currently, the administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is actively in contact with international organizations to reform the penitentiary system of Uzbekistan. However, the real result of the point monitoring of the observance of the prisoners’ rights is the work of initiative groups, which the authorities do not allow to officially register independent public organizations.
