Kazakhstan will improve nutrition for prisoners

In Kazakhstan, prisoners will have better food. Zhanat Eshmagambetov, the chairman of the Penitentiary System Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that the cost of food for one prisoner is planned to be increased by 98 cents.

 Today, the list of products for prisoners consists of 26 items. Daily feeding of each prisoner costs the budget $ 1.46. However, from the beginning of next year, the list of products will be increased to 32 items, and the cost of food will rise to $ 2.44 per prisoner per day.

However, judging by the words of Eshmagambetov, the budget of Kazakhstan will not suffer much from this, since the number of prisoners in the country has significantly decreased.

“Over the past nine years, the prison population has decreased from 57 to 30 thousand people. In the world ranking in terms of the number of prisoners, Kazakhstan is in the 100th place, whereas 18 years ago our country was among the three leaders after the United States and Russia,” Eshmagambetov said, explaining that 25 thousand prisoners are directly in colonies (there are 82 of them today), the remaining 5 thousand are in 16 pre-trial detention centers.

Thus, according to the head of the Penitentiary System Committee, only 0.2% of the population of Kazakhstan is currently in prison.

The decline in the number of prisoners has led to the fact that the country began to close the correctional facilities. So, over the past 6 years, 12 colonies have been liquidated. This year it is planned to liquidate two more correctional institutions.

As for the mode of work under quarantine conditions, when visits with prisoners were prohibited, then, as Eshmagambetov noted, the Penitentiary System Committee tried to solve this issue by organizing video visits.

So, during the strict quarantine in correctional institutions, convicts made about 33 thousand video calls to relatives and friends.

“We work closely with public oversight commissions and an independent national preventive mechanism, which include public figures, lawyers, doctors, social workers, human rights activists. Members of these commissions made about 500 visits to correctional facilities. They monitor the conditions of detention of convicts. In addition, it is planned to introduce a continuous monitoring system in real time, which will prevent possible violations on the part of both convicts and employees. The right of convicts to submit petitions in electronic format will be introduced. Almost every institution will have electronic terminals for filing complaints and appeals directly to the Prosecutor’s office, and later – to the courts and the Anti-Corruption Agency,” Eshmagambetov explained.

He also added that for the comfortable stay of convicts in correctional institutions, the Internet store was launched, in which prisoners can order not only food, but also other consumer goods.

“A specialized Internet store www.convex.kz for the delivery of food and essential goods is still available for convicts in the colonies of Almaty city, Almaty and Akmola regions. There are 400 items of goods, all of them are classified as safe for sale in pre-trial detention centers and correctional colonies. All prices are available. In the future, we plan to introduce this experience in all colonies of the country. This is very important for the social adaptation of convicts, and it is also very convenient. They can, being in a colony, feel like a part of society,” the head of the Penitentiary System Committee summed up.