MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov is indignant at the condition of certain penitentiaries.
"The mess which a number of correctional institutions have been for many years must have been cleaned up by the relevant officials irrespective of any reforms," he told the ministry board on Friday.
He dismissed criticism of the correctional system reform as unacceptable. "Persons who make such statements or draw such conclusions have not started to implement the reform. I even think they do not need this reform at all," Konovalov said.
"Success or failure of the reform has nothing to do with the elementary fulfillment of one's duties," the minister said.
The officials criticizing the penitentiary reform "should execute their duties properly, consistent with the laws, departmental acts and manuals, before they make conclusions about the reform's efficiency or inefficiency," he said.
Federal Penitentiary Service First Deputy Director E. Petrukhin called the correctional system reform a failure at a Chelyabinsk meeting last December, which followed a riot at the Kopeysk penitentiary. "I am ashamed to hear about flaws of the entire system. The penitentiary reform is a failure. It was planned in disregard of the opinion of the public, prosecutors and the Investigative Committee. Many flaws were overlooked," Petrukhin said.
Some 250 inmates from six units came to the block corridor before lunch on November 24 and demanded to alleviate the regulations, in particular, to release a number of convicts from punitive confinement.