Russia's bold plan to merge pretrial detention with prison labor sparks debate
Russia's prison population has fallen sharply over the past decade, dropping from nearly 700,000 in 2013 to just 308,000 today. The decline follows wartime recruitment efforts and broader changes in the penal system. Now, a new legal proposal aims to merge pretrial detention with prison labour under a single system.
The Justice Ministry has put forward a draft law to allow convicted inmates to stay in pretrial detention centres if they work at on-site production facilities. Currently, these centres—known as SIZO—hold around 89,000 detainees awaiting trial. The change would let them remain there even after sentencing, provided they are employed in industries like woodworking, garment-making or food production.
A new facility designed for 3,000 inmates has been under construction in the Kaluga region since 2024. The proposal would make it easier to expand such 'super-prisons', where detainees and sentenced prisoners could be housed together. Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with the human rights group First Department, warned that the legal shift could pave the way for more of these large complexes.
The amendment would blur the traditional divide between pretrial detention and penal colonies. Instead of transferring convicted inmates to separate prisons, authorities could keep them in SIZO if they work at attached production sites. This would apply even in areas where no nearby penal colony exists.
The proposed law would streamline the use of prison labour while reducing the need to move inmates between facilities. It also aligns with Russia's recent trend of shrinking its prison population through wartime recruitment and policy changes. If passed, the measure could reshape how the country manages both detainees and convicted prisoners in the years ahead.
