Coronavirus: Activists call for amnesty amid signs Covid-19 is beginning to hit Russian jails

In a prison system that has no intensive care beds and as many as half of the population have weakened immune systems, a selective release of inmates appears to be the only viable option, Oliver Carroll finds

(Reuters)

On Friday evening, Russian newswires took a brief pause from the coronavirus.

In Siberian Angarsk, deep in one of the most criminal regions of Russia, hundreds of prisoners were staging a mutiny. The footage emanating from prison colony No 15 was shocking: inmates in crowded cells slitting their forearms in protest at alleged violence from guards; videos of the prisoners begging relatives to intervene; flames engulfing much of the prison territory; and an unforgiving special forces operation to regain control.

One prisoner died, circumstances yet to be ascertained, in what was the most serious prison riot in Russia in living memory.

The images of police officers and their batons coming into such close contact with inmates contrasted with the increasingly severe anti-coronavirus measures deployed outside. It also underlined the incompatibility of Russia’s huge prison infrastructure with a public health emergency.

Russia has the third highest prison population in the world with over 500,000 detainees nationwide. It also has an epidemic that is developing according to the most pessimistic scenarios. On Monday, Vladimir Putin told bureaucrats to prepare for the most “extraordinary” of crises. He even suggested the army may need to be deployed.

Already, there are signs that Covid-19 is beginning to hit vulnerable prison populations in a significant way.

The state prison system has so far released very limited information about the scale of the problem. Medical officials working with prisons are also reluctant to speak; two refused The Independent’s requests for an interview. Lawyers and independent monitors are now mostly blocked from visiting prisoners in person.

But we do know the following: at least seven prison officers have been officially diagnosed with the virus, with at least one officer in the republic of Mari El subsequently dying. It seems reasonable to assume that infections were not limited to prison staff. We also know prisons are beginning to open special quarantine zones. There have been a number of reports of large numbers of inmates taken ill with fever and pneumonia. According to Olga Romanova, director of prisoner rights charity Russia Behind Bars, on Monday evening 23 prisoners were isolated in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

Sanitary conditions in Russia’s convoluted prison system vary considerably by region and type. But the recommendations of avoiding crowds, hand washing and isolation are unfeasible pretty much everywhere.

Prison authorities have introduced some measures to mitigate the risk – cleaning has been stepped up and outside visitors have been banned since March, while some facilities have stopped taking in new admissions. But prison officers themselves are not subject to quarantine restrictions, and all it takes is one to bring the virus in for a major situation to develop.

Inside prisons, as many as half of those incarcerated have weakened immune systems, according to one activist’s estimate – whether from TB, hepatitis, cancer or other long-term illness. One in 10 has HIV. Some of the most frail are already isolated in special medical facilities, including those with advanced HIV and TB. If coronavirus patients are put in beds alongside them, many will not survive, Ms Romanova says.

Medical facilities are notoriously patchy. In the plus column, prison medicine has historically been geared towards respiratory illnesses such as TB. This stands them in good stead when it comes to coronavirus, says Andrei Babushkin, a member of the presidential human rights council. But in the negative column, there are no intensive care beds anywhere in the system, and the ban on prison parcels means that medical supplies can’t be delivered.

“The authorities are doing a lot to protect people from the epidemic, but there’s no sense in being overly optimistic,” the rights activist said. “It would simply be a miracle if the prison health system manages to cope.”

On Tuesday, Russia recorded another record 2,774 infections, taking the total number of recorded Covid-19 cases past 21,000. Cases have been rising exponentially, by between 14-18 per cent day-on-day for some time. Perhaps most concerning is news that the virus is now taking hold outside the epicentre of Moscow. Only two of Russia’s 85 regions have yet to record a case. Most of their health systems are poorlyprepared for the crisis that awaits.

The increasing uncertainty around coronavirus may have played an indirect role the Angarsk riots. The colony is a so-called "black" colony, run by inmates themselves, and with little input from guards. One theory is that the altercations with guards was an attempt to reassert the previous pre-coronavirus order of parcel deliveries and prison visits. Guards themselves are facing an impossible task. Nationwide shortages of PPE and safety equipment affect them too.

“People in the system are starting to cooperate with us for the first time,” reveals Ms Romanova. “We’re supposed to be their enemy, but now they are giving us secret documents. They know that when push comes to shove, their bosses won’t give a damn about their health.”

Activists believe a wide-ranging amnesty is the only way to avoid excessive mortality. This would mirror measures taken by governments in most of Europe, the US, Canada, India and Sudan and even Bahrain.

“We need an epidemic to empty colonies and detention centres as much as possible,” says Mr Babushkin. “Obviously, it has to be sensible. If we release persistent offenders, the first thing they will do is get drunk, break the quarantine regime, and they themselves will become ill and become carriers of infection.”

Late last month, a group of civil society actors wrote a petition to the president calling for the selective release of inmates. The Kremlin’s human rights council has also suggested an amnesty for those in temporary detention centres.

Neither proposal has received a response.