Право / 5.Уголовное право и криминология.

Hokhin S.A., Candidate of Law, Menshakova N.N., Candidate of Philological Studies

Perm Institute of the Federal Penal Escort, Russia

On the Concept of Penal Escort in Russia

The international standards on Penal Escort recommend that the convicts that are sent to correctional facilities or transferred from one facility to another should if possible be concealed from other people. The guards must take all measures to protect the convicts from any insults, idle curiosity and any kind of publicity. The transfer of convicts in badly ventilated, poorly lit vehicles, in exhausting or rough conditions is strictly forbidden (Ponomarev, Radkevich, Seliverstov 1997: 58-71).

Legal issues of escort of convicts in Russia are quite thoroughly studied from the organizational and administrative standpoint. This can easily be explained by the fact that thirteen years ago special Units of Escort in Russia were a part of the internal security troops under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The main concern of internal security troops in this respect was connected with the interests of military service rather than the legal status of prisoners. It is obvious that the principles of work and attitudes to penal service created by the Ministry of Home Affairs would function as basic for modern Units of Guard and Escort for the next few years.

Nowadays prisoners are transferred (escorted) to the places where they are to serve their term from one institution of the Federal Penal Service of Russia to another on different legal grounds such as transfer from a pre-trial detention center to a correctional facility after the sentence (resolution, decision) has been delivered by the court, with the aim to involve them into investigative actions and legal proceedings (Art. 77.1 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation), and so on. Thus, each year about two million of prisoners, convicts and suspects are convoyed in Russia (Barinov 2004: 10). The time in transfer of some definite categories of prisoners takes not less than two months (Alpern 2004: 44). Some approximate castings show that convicts are under escort for not less than 5 – 7 % of the total time they are sentenced to serve (Malikov, Plenkin 2005: 70).

Unfortunately, the legal status of prisoners during their transfer is expressed in legal and normative documents of the Russian Federation not quite definitely (Malikov, Useev 2006: 102) due to the use of different terms. Penal Law of the Russian Federation gives different interpretations of the procedure of transfer of prisoners. That causes the ambiguity of interpretation of their legal status. Thus, the Penal Code of the Russian Federation applies the term “transfer of persons convicted to prison” (Art. 76), while the Law of the Russian Federation On Penal Institutions and Facilities that Serve as Places of Imprisonment signed on July 21, 1993, Instruction on Official Activity of Special Units of Escort of the Penal Service (hereinafter referred to as the Instruction) and Instruction on Guard of Correctional Facilities and Pre-Trial Detention Centers apply the term “escort of persons convicted to prison”. The Instruction defines the term “escort” as “transfer of convicts and persons kept in custody with penal escort”. This definition does not contradict the Penal Code of the Russian Federation.

Let us find out if there is any semantic difference between these terms. This will show if the legal status of prisoners which are ‘transferred’ and ‘escorted are different. The word ‘to transfer’ (Rus. – peremestit’) according to the dictionaries of the Russian Language (Dal 1978; Ozhegov 1988) means: to carry, to shift, to move in the space, that is to move in the space without resistance. The word “to escort” (Rus. – konvoirovat’) has somewhat different meaning: to guard, to watch for the arrested, to accompany with an escort. The word “escort” (Rus. – konvoy) means a military subdivision (a detachment, a certain service man), which carries out the service of guard and transfer of war prisoners, convicts, etc., i.e. moves them in the space overcoming their resistance. Article 76 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation also applies the term “transfer the convicts under escort”. Thus, we can draw a conclusion that the wordings “escort of convicts sentenced to imprisonment” and “transfer of convicts under escort” are used as synonymous, but the term “escort” is more professionally colored.

Besides, in everyday life in the Russian Language the wording “etapirovat’” (‘to transport under guard”) and “etap” (“transportation of deported convicts”) are used. The word “etap” in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Russian Language by V.I. Dal is defined as “a travel line of the arrested and the exiles, and a number of such persons” (Dal 1978: 819). From this definition we can derive the meaning of the Russian term “etapirovat’ osuzhdennykh” (“to transport convicts under guard”), which means the procedure of escort of a group of convicts to the place of punishment execution.

Having analyzed the terms “transfer of convicts under escort”, “escort of convicted to imprisonment” and “transportation of convicts” we may draw a conclusion that all three of them are synonymous in principle. However the term “transportation of convicts” (“etapirovaniye”) shows the peculiarity of the process of transferring convicts in the past epoch, it was widely used in the 19^th and at the beginning of the 20^th century. In the present days it is not used in the official documents because the form of transfer of convicts has greatly changed since then. Nowadays in the legal and normative documents and in the speech of penal officers the term “escort of convicts sentenced to imprisonment” which implies “transfer of convicts sentenced to imprisonment under guard” (Malikov, Useev 2006: 103).

References

Alpern L. Son i yav zhenskoy tyurmi. Saint Petersburg: Alteya, 2004. P. 44

Barinov N. Na uroven mezhdunarodnikh standartov // Vedomosti UIS. 2004. №3. P. 10

Dal B. Tolkovii slovar zhivogo velikorusskogo yazika. Vol. 1-4. Moscow, 1978

Malikov B.Z., Plyonkin Y.V. Izolyatsiya osuzhdennykh r lisheniyu svobody: Problemy pravovogo virazheniya I realizatsii. Samara: Samarskii yuridicheskii institut FSIN Rossii. 2005. P. 70

Malikov B.Z., Useev R.Z. Nekotoriye problemi pravovogo polozheniya osuzhdennykh k lisheniyu svobodi pri peremeschenii pod konvoyem iz odnogo uchrezhdeniya UIS v drugoye // Obschestvo. Kultura. Prestupnost. Saratov, 2006. №8. P. 102

Ozhegov S.I. Slovar russkogo yazika. Moscow, 1988

Ponomarev P.G., Radkevich V.S., Selivestrov V.I. Ugolovno-ispolnitelnoye pravo: Sbornik normativnikh aktov. Moscow: Novyi Yurist, 1997. P.58-71