The number of prisoners in Russian correctional colonies has decreased to 266 thousand people. This was announced in Cheboksary at a visiting meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction by Deputy Minister of Justice Vsevolod Vukolov.
“If ten years ago our contingent in prison reached almost 700 thousand people, now We have about 266 thousand people in correctional colonies,” the official said.
This is the first public message about the number of prisoners in colonies after the Federal Penitentiary Service stopped publishing these statistics in November 2022 due to recruitment into the Wagner PMC.
In his speech, Vukolov did not specify whether we were talking about the results of the third quarter of 2023 (as of October 1) or earlier indicators.
The number of prisoners in Russian colonies has indeed been declining for many years, but in 2022, convicts also began to be en masse recruited into the Wagner PMC units. Then Mediazona discovered that in two autumn months of 2022, from Russian colonies suddenly disappeared 23 thousand prisoners at once. And at the end of the entire 2022, the reduction amounted to 32 thousand people.
Over two months, the number of prisoners in men's colonies decreased by a record 23 thousand people. This is happening against the backdrop of recruitment into the Wagner PMC
From the statement of Deputy Minister Vukolov, it follows that in 2023 the reduction has already amounted to more than 54 thousand people. Even if we assume that the official provided the latest figures as of October 1, this is a historical record for the reduction in the prison population since the beginning of the year. If he meant earlier indicators, then in comparison with previous years the drop is even more significant.
Without detailed data for each month, which the Federal Penitentiary Service stopped publishing in November 2022, estimate how many of the 54 thousand were recruited to Wagner, impossible. But in 2022, until the Federal Penitentiary Service stopped publishing data, two-thirds of all “departed” prisoners could only be explained by recruitment.