On May 4, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Irkutsk Region Valeriy Lukin visited the correctional camp № 14 of the Head Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Irkutsk Region. In the course of the inspection, the Regional Commissioner detected numerous violations some of which constituted a threat to life.

In particular, Valeriy Lukin found out that day-and-night prisoners were held in locked cells where roofs leaked and there were rats under the floor that caved in. Herewith, rooms lacked technical ventilation and natural light while the artificial light was under the statutory standard.

Besides, prisoners had meals next to the sanitation facilities. The square of the promenade yard did not conform to the established standards. In the course of the private talk with the Regional Commissioner, the prisoners complained to a broken canalization and water supply interruptions.

As a result of inspection, Valeriy Lukin immediately handed petition to Igor Melnikov, the attorney of the Irkutsk Region, requesting to assume measures for the elimination of the detected citizens’ rights violations.

"The detected facts and arguments of prisoners form basis to suppose that the conditions of detention do not conform with regulations on sanitary and technical state of the corresponding accommodations and constitute a threat to health of prisoners, first of all, because of a high risk of tuberculosis and other illnesses", — the ombudsman says in his message.

The situation remains on the personal control of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Irkutsk Region.

Adapted from the Press Service of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Irkutsk Region