Volgograd: roundtable participants state ex-prisoners' employment problems

Former prisoners experience a lot of difficulties in finding job. This was stated by participants of the "roundtable" held in Volgograd. Members of the Public Chamber for the Volgograd Region have proposed to allocate quotas for employment of that category of citizens. Another problem is in creation of jobs for inmates of penitentiary institutions, note members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC).

40% of people released from prisons repeatedly commit crimes, states Svetlana Kazachenok, the chair of the commission for the rule of law and protection of the citizens' rights of the Public Chamber for the Volgograd Region. The number of reasons for repeated crimes includes loss of family and failure to find a job.

Vladimir Kozlovich, the chairman of the POC, has claimed the need to establish regional rehabilitation centres for people released from prisons. He has also drawn attention to the poor conditions in the detention centres.

Nina Boldyreva, Ombudsman for Children in the Volgograd Region, has reported about the "liberalization" of the state's attitude towards the children who broke the law. According to Nina Boldyreva, she received individual appeals concerning penal colonies for minors.

The problems of medical care for prisoners were voiced by Inna Prikhozhan, a member of the POC for the Volgograd Region and the chair of the NGO "Civil Society Institute".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.