SAMARA, Volga region, November 14 (AVN) - Bary Reed, chief programme co-ordinator of the US National Democratic Institute of Foreign relations, visited local correction facility number five, a source in the regional penal jurisdiction told the Military News Agency.
He delivered a lecture on how the higher education system is organised in the US prisons. Reed was accompanied by Vyacheslav Volok, head of the Modern Humanitarian Institute.
Samara is the first Russian city that established higher education for prisoners. The lessons are given by instructors of the institute. The studies are of correspondence character. The course of education is RUR1,300 (some USD50) per semester. Most part of the sum is provided by prisoners' relatives.
As many as 32 people are studying in the colony. Average age of the students is 23. Average grade is four. There are less crimes conducted in the colony after the educational system was introduced. The experience of the Samara region is planned to be used in other Russian cities and regions where there are affiliates of the Modern Humanitarian Institute particularly in Tolyatti, Penza, Nizhny Novgorod and several towns in Tatarstan.