State and law-enforcement agencies unprepared for mass prison release, Oleg Borisov says

‘About 14,000 people are going to get released from Sverdlovsk Region’s prisons this year; most of these people got some rather long prison terms back in the mid-nineties. Setting free the people who had been sentenced for felonies and capital offenses en masse is bound to put the population’s safety in jeopardy. There are two kinds of convicts imprisoned in the nineties, actually, and each of the two kinds stands for specific kinds of risks,’ says Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center’s GD Oleg Borisov

‘The first category comprises the members of organized crime groups. Some people who started to serve their ten- to fifteen-year terms back then would often agree to take somebody else’s charges upon themselves in exchange for a guaranteed decent living standard and remuneration upon release. Now comes the time for certain people to prove as good as their word, and it’s only too obvious that today’s mafia are not going to share their own income with those getting released from prisons. This is why they’ll probably try to create some additional illegal sources and ways of making money. One way is to penetrate the small and medium-scale business,’ he explains.

‘As for the second kind, these are the people who got long prison terms for criminal offenses not connected with organized crime, and they are highly unlikely to have acquired some brand new morals during these ten to fifteen years. Quite on the contrary, they are much more likely to leave a prison with a much broadened criminal experience. Therefore such people will probably try to get involved in some criminal activity again and might even set up the nuclei of new organized crime groups, attracting the unemployed (who keep increasing in number),’ the expert warns.

‘I believe that neither the state nor the law-enforcement agencies are prepared to solve this problem at the moment. No necessary measures are taken to rehabilitate the former prisoners; nor does the state provide any subsidies to ensure greater safety. As a result, the problem might backfire on small and medium enterprises as well as simple civilians,’ Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center’s GD Oleg Borisov said to an UrBC reporter.

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