The government approved the creation of a “multicolony” in Russia

The idea of ​​the Ministry of Justice to create correctional institutions in which several types of regimes will operate at the same time was supported by the government commission on legislative activity. “Vedomosti” got acquainted with the accompanying documents to the amendments to the law “On Institutions and Bodies of the Criminal-Executive System of Russia”.

The emergence of “hybrid” colonies, which will officially be called “united-type institutions” (UOT), is contained in the concept of the development of the penal system for the period until 2030. According to this document, the first UOT with three thousand seats and a cost of 13 billion rubles will appear in the coming years in the Kaluga region. By 2027, the authorities intend to build hybrid colonies in Chita and Ulan-Ude, each of which will cost the budget 20 billion rubles.

In March 2023, the Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuichenko explained to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that the creation of such institutions would save money on the maintenance of convicts, as a result of which the colonies would pay for themselves in about a decade.

According to Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Human Rights Council, UOTs will allow to avoid long-term phasing of convicts. At the same time, it may become more difficult for relatives to get to the place of detention of their incarcerated loved ones, since “multicolonies” are planned to be built on the outskirts of cities.

• According to the government’s plan, a pre-trial detention center and four FSIN institutions will be combined in Ulan-Ude, and a pre-trial detention center and five FSIN institutions will be combined in Chita. According to the head of Buryatia, the project cost of such a joint-type institution is about 12 billion rubles, however, taking into account the construction period and inflation, it will amount to 20 billion.
• In the summer of 2023, residents of the “Steklozavod” microdistrict in Ulan-Ude opposed the construction of a multi-colony for three thousand people near their homes. About two hundred people gathered in the “Krystal” park to record a video appeal to the authorities.