Hosted the IV-th Forum of prison reform
Today, the Prosecutor General's office under the chairmanship of Zhakip Asanov held the next 4th forum of prison reform.
The event was co-organized by the Parliament, the Commissioner for human rights, the Ministry of internal Affairs, the European Union mission in Kazakhstan, and the OSCE program Office in Astana.
The Forum was attended by the Chairman of the constitutional Council Rogov I. I., Deputy Chairmen of the Senate of the Parliament Beknazarov B. A., Gromov S. N., Assistant to the President - Secretary of the Security Council zhumakanov V. Z., Chairmen of the Senate and Majilis committees akylbay S. B., Abdirov N. N., Minister of Justice beketaev M. B., Chairman of the judicial Board for criminal cases of the Supreme Court Rakhmetullin A.D., members of Parliament, Commissioner for human rights Shakirov A. O., Heads of the EU and OSCE missions, heads of Central law enforcement and interested state agencies, international organizations and NGOs, as well as ambassadors and representatives of embassies of 36 States.
The results of the previous three forums and the implementation of projects to reduce the prison population, employment of prisoners and their re-socialization were summed up. A new project "Towards a society without torture"was also presented.
Its goal is to eliminate torture in criminal proceedings and places of detention.
As noted at the Forum, every year we register up to 700 statements about illegal methods of investigation and violence against detainees and prisoners. Over the past 5 years, 140 law enforcement officers have been convicted of torture.
The Project has developed an action plan consisting of 3 main areas: prevention of torture, its investigation and rehabilitation of victims.
The plan includes amendments to criminal and civil legislation. It is proposed to bring them into line with the International Convention against torture. Introduce special interrogation rooms in law enforcement buildings with transparent walls, equipped with video surveillance systems, a telephone, and an alarm button.
In addition, the Forum summed up the results of the implementation of three projects presented at previous forums:
- we managed to reduce the number of prisoners from 50 thousand in 2013 to 35.6 thousand in 2016;
- Kazakhstan has risen from 33 to 68 in the international ranking;
- for 2 years, 7 UIS institutions were closed with budget savings of 12 billion tenge in one year.
As a result of joint work with the Ministry of internal Affairs on the project "Employment in colonies-2017":
- increased employment of prisoners with labor from 51 to 67% (+16%).
- 207 entrepreneurs opened sole proprietors in colonies (before the forum there were 16, the growth was 13 times);
- more than 2.7 thousand convicts were employed (an increase of 62 times more than 2 years ago);
- 52 prisoners have created IP. Simplified entry of entrepreneurs to the colonies (instead of one-time passes, now temporary for 1 year);
- 1.5 times increased the time for passing transport in the colony;
- the adoption of a temporary standard for the inspection of transport;
- increased staff of controllers at the checkpoint.
With state support, 26 thousand convicts received social and legal assistance, 1,234 persons of this category were employed in social jobs, 310 released from correctional institutions received a benefit of 6.5 million tenge. Micro-loans totaling 26 million tenge were issued to these individuals to open their own business in rural areas.
An interested exchange of views took place on the Forum's platform. The participants agreed that the annual Forum is an effective platform for solving the most acute problems in the penitentiary sphere.
Press service of the Prosecutor General's office of the Republic of Kazakhstan