Kazakhstan: Prison Reform Process Reportedly Stagnating

Vienna 4 May 2006,

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) shares the concerns raised by Kazakh and international civil society organizations that despite penal reforms, which are relatively progressive, serious problems persist inside prisons in Kazakhstan that need to be addressed by the authorities.

Several civil society organizations, including the Almaty Helsinki Committee, Penal Reform International, the Committee for Monitoring Penal Reforms and Human Rights, the Charter for Human Rights and Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, organized a press conference on the developments of the penitentiary system in Kazakhstan in Almaty on 25 April 2006. They expressed concerns about recent mass incidents of self-mutilation, rising number of prisoners committing suicide, continued violations of prisoners’ rights and the worsening relationship between the criminal-executive system and civil society organizations.

Although Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to initiate penal reforms, the country has one of the highest per-capita prison population rates, at 342 of a population of 100,000. In comparison, the prison index for Kyrgyzstan is 247 and for Tajikistan 164.

The IHF is particularly concerned about continuing incidents of self-mutilation among prisoners in Kazakhstan. The latest incident was reported on March 31 in a penal colony in Zarechny in the Almaty region. Nearly 50 inmates maimed themselves by cutting their abdomens to protest a policy of unwarranted searches, beatings and the confiscation of personal belongings.

Incidents like the one in Zarechny have become more frequent in Kazakhstan in recent years:

-          In March 1999, 26 inmates of the Atyrau prison stabbed themselves in the stomach in what was reportedly a mass suicide attempt to protest conditions in their jail. The inmates were protesting overcrowding, lack of food and other inhumane conditions that they claimed exist in their prison.

-          On 13 July 2000, 44 prisoners in Arkarlyk in the northern Kostanai region reportedly used razors to slash their necks, stomachs and wrists to protest poor living conditions in the facility.

-          On 11 August 2000, some 57 prisoners in an Almaty Juvenile Detention Center maimed themselves by cutting their wrists and abdomens.

-          On 19 May 2001, inmates at the Semipalatinsk Prison 156/14 committed acts of self-mutilation, slitting their wrists and driving nails into their chests and backs to protest prison conditions.

-          On 8 April 2002, 28 inmates at a Karaganda pre-trial detention facility slashed their abdomens to protest their transfer to Dolinka 151/7 maximum security penitentiary in the region, where they reportedly believed that the rights of prisoners were not respected. In May, three inmates at Dolinka also slashed their abdomens.

-          On 29 June and on 10 July 2002, several prisoners cut their veins and slashed their abdomens to protest prison conditions in the Kustanai region.

-          In August 2002, nearly 70 inmates at Juvenile Penitentiary 163/3 in Aktobe rioted to protest the failure of the prison administration to investigate the suicide of an inmate who had repeatedly complained of beatings by prison officials.

-          On 27 January 2003, 20 prisoners of a Shymkent facility for prisoners with TBC, inflicted harm on themselves in protest to demand for better medicines and “normal” food.  The protest led to similar incidents in another facility in Shymkent, where 25 prisoners cut their wrists and maimed themselves and in Taraz, where on 11 February 2003, one prisoner reportedly died of a self-inflicted wound and 39 other prisoners mutilated themselves during the course of a riot.

-          In September 2003, prisoners held at a maximum security colony in Astana began rioting. According to witnesses, scores of MVD officers entered the facility to restore order and severely beat prisoners. Several of the prisoners attempted suicide as a consequence, deliberately injuring themselves, by slashing their throats or abdomens. 

-          On 24 October 2003, one prisoner died as a result of a self-inflicted wound and 60 other prisoners mutilated themselves to protest the severe beatings that they reported receiving for months at the Arkalyk maximum security prison.

-          In May 2004, nearly 20 prisoners cut themselves to protest harsh prison conditions and beatings in Zarechny in the Almaty region.

-          On 17 October 2005, around 20 prisoners cut their abdomens in Dolinka-prison to protest prison conditions.

-          On 8 April 2005, 15 prisoners inflicted harm on themselves in a correction facility in Zhambyl region

-          On 12 April 2005, nearly 100 prisoners maimed themselves in Shymkent.

Other Central Asian countries[1] have witnessed similar problems. The IHF welcomes the fact that from 2000 onwards the government in Kazakhstan has taken active steps to improve prison conditions. It has undertaken projects to provide medical and human rights training to prison officials, has moved control of the prison system from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Justice and has established a system of penitentiary-oversight commissions to review human rights conditions and a Council for Public Oversight in 2004. However, the organizers of the press conference noted “a certain stagnation in the implementation of penal reforms in the past two years”. Members of the penitentiary-oversight commissions have allegedly been denied access to certain prisons and proposals made by the commissions have been partially neglected. Also, the members of the Council for Public Oversights have reportedly not met since August 2005.

The IHF appeals to the Kazakh government:

-          To take effective measures to assure that incidents of self-mutilations will not continue in the future

-          To step up the pace of reform in order to further improve prison conditions, reduce the level of prisoner abuse and to enhance a greater understanding of human rights among prison staff

-          To create an efficient mechanism to enable prisoners to make uncensored complaints about their treatment

-          To give access to the members of the penitentiary-oversight commissions to review human rights conditions in all pretrial detention facilities and in prisons

-          To transform the Council for Public Oversights, which is supposed to conduct internal investigations on abuse allegations, into a well-functioning and operating body.

For more information, please contact:

Brigitte Dufour, IHF Deputy Executive Director, +43-676-690 24 57