Supreme Court of Russia allowed prisoners of one of the prison camps to hold correspondence

The Supreme Court of Russia considered the complaint of one of the prisoners of the prison camp near Khabarovsk, who, after several months of correspondence with another prisoner of the same colony, was forbidden to continue it. Both convicts were serving life sentences and for eight months they had corresponded with each other, but the administration of the correctional institution decided to stop this.

The court of first instance supported the applicant's position, considering it possible to continue the correspondence, but the appeal canceled this judicial act - then the prisoner went further.

The position of the head of prison camp was that the administration was obliged to prevent the establishment of any relationship between prisoners serving sentences in different cells.

However, the Supreme Court of Russia did not agree with this, as it did not see any violation of the law in the correspondence between the convicts.

The Judicial Board for Administrative Cases indicated that the legislation does not contain a prohibition on the correspondence between convicts, including those serving life sentences in the same correctional colony. The court recalled that the administration had the right to prohibit correspondence, but in this case, the prohibition itself must be justified.

In the case under consideration, the administration of the colony was unable to provide clear reasons for the prohibition, which include prevention of the commission of new crimes or ensuring the safety of both the convicts themselves and the employees of the correctional institution.

The Supreme Court of Russia also recalled that the prison camp has the ability to establish the real purpose of correspondence by censoring the sent and received correspondence.