Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan

Now, when the society struggles with problems of criminality and violence in streets, the market areas and even in the corridors of power, all undertaken efforts can be vain if not to take into account, that the Kazakhstan Corrections in particular, is obsolete and powerless in implementation of prison - reform operations due to inadequate  resources.

Since 1991 the Republic of Kazakhstan has been an inde­ pendent state. It continues to face obstacles in realizing its economic wealth, both legal and regulatory. Kazakhstan ranks third in the incarceration of its citizens in the indus­ trialized world, after the United States and Russia. Ka­ zakhstan is considered as one of the recognized routes for drug traffic from Afghanistan through Tajikistan, Russia, and on to Europe. The republic of Kazakhstan, namely Department of Corrections is in the process of prison re­ forms, prompted in part by Amnesty International in the mid-1990s.

 

Officials of Kazakhstan Tour Kansas Prisons" Associated Press (11/17/00)

Nine Kazakhstan officials are visiting Kansas in order to under­ stand the American structure of the department of corrections and glean innovations for the 96 prisons and 85,000 inmates in that country. The trip, which was sponsored by Senim, a Southern Baptist-funded humanitarian organization, brought the officials to state prisons, juvenile detention centers, county jails , and correc­ tional facilities in the state. The Kazakhstan officials are im­ pressed with the mingling of prisoners and staff, the modem tech­ nology, the fact that there is one state employee for every seven inmates, and how prisoners worked inside and outside of the pris­ ons. However, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Internal Affairs , Nicoly Vlasov, points out that American innovations and tech­ nologies are great, but hard to achieve in Kazakhstan on a budget of just slightly more than $1 million per prison, compared to $8.5 million for a single correctional facility in Kansas.

I am the leader of SHYRAK Foundation, a non-governmental or­ ganization, involved in prisoners' rehabilitation in Kazakhstan, situ­ ated in the city of Almaty. The topic  of my current research as a fellow of the International Research and Exchange Board (through the Department of State of the U.S.) is focused on the rehabilitation of prisoners in the USA, with special concern for the programs available for female offenders.

While at home, I wasn't surprised that I couldn't get any informa­ tion on my topic which is the focus of my activity . I accepted this as normal. I didn't notice that there were no statistics at all on the number of inmates in the prisons , the prisons themselves in Ka­ zakhstan, neither in the Internet nor in the a paper or a bulletin available in Kazakhstan. In the  USA, I have found more then 80 journals and papers devoted to prisoners and prisons, the prison officers' magazine, journals on prison and jail  health,  corrections and probation research, and alternatives to incarceration.. Yet, there is not a single publication issued in  Kazakhstan  on the topic I know best, that is the Kazakhstan Corrections.

The poor economic conditions Kazakhstan have resulted to that the increasing part of the population is being involved in criminal cir­ cles.

According to the Interior Ministry, during the year there were ap­ proximately  80,000  prisoners  in  facilities  designed   to  hold 60,000 . A 1999 amnesty reduces the total prison population  by about 15,000, but the population nearly returned to  pre-amnesty levels within a year for people were literally dumped on the street. There were no and there is not a single rehabilitation programs to prepare released people to  come back to the civil world in Ka­ zakhstan.

Reportedly, prison conditions remain harsh and sometimes life-threatening due to inadequate resources . In 19998, 1,290 in­ mates, more than 1 percent of all prisoners died from disease, mostly tuberculosis aggravated by harsh and at times life-threaten­ ing prison conditions and  inadequate medical treatment.

In 2000, about five hundred prisoners died in custody. More than 200 of these deaths, mostly tuberculosis.

Kazakhstan ranks third in the industrialized world, after America and Russia, in the incarceration of citizens. Kazakhstan is consid­ ered one of the recognized route bases for the transitional drugs traffic today from Afghanistan through Tajikistan, to Russia and further into Europe with all the possible consequences for criminal activity.

A major criticism of the Kazakhstan Corrections system is the lack of any kind of rehabilitative programs. Offenders who leave prison after serving their terms cannot easily be returned into society be­ cause of the absence of the idea to organize these programs while offenders are in prison. There are no statistics, and no  contact with news media, to make sure that prison officials obey the law.

Because prisons are secure, closed institutions, there are always po­ tential risks that abuses occurring within the walls will not be easily discovered, and this make violation of human rights possible .

Having covered, through manuals, journals , on-line publications etc., many professional and scholarly materials on the American system of criminal justice and rehabilitation programs , I am overwhelmed by the wealth of material devoted to the area of my research. It gave to me the idea to try to establish a Prison Reform Support and Criminal Justice Center as part of the SHYRAK Foundation . The key ele­ ments of the new Center are

Implementation of the international norms and guidelines to al­ ternative sentencing;

Openness and accountability in all aspects of the operation of criminal justice ;

Improvement of the conditions of confinement for women  pris­ oners through different rehabilitation programs ;

Introduction of a juvenile justice project with legislative advo­ cacy, and a number of publiceducational and vocational  pro­ grams;

Raise public awareness of the social, human situation in the Ka­ zakhstan prison system through relevant information;

This is based on the understanding that penal reform is an essen­

tial part of good government and that penal reform cannot proceed without changes to the criminal justice system as a .whole. The initial proposals for improvement of conditions in Kazakhstan pnsons  are:

To  find  initial  financial  resources  with  further  government

investment,  involving the Shyrak Foundation   project , for the creation of the Center;

To issue a paper or bulletin in Russian and English, and con­

struct a website offering a comprehensive database of all rele-. vant information on the prison system of K.azakhstan;

To develop a project to twin prisons and rehabilitation centers

with counterpartners in America and Kazakhstan  for  long term partnership  in several prisons  and staff training centers in Almaty city, Kazakhstan .

We will encourage the Correction Authority  to take  into ac­

count the experience of the developed countries, to reduce the prison population and preserve human rights.

The experience of America and Europe, where non-governmental

organizations and churches have been actively involved in the problems of improving the situation in confinement  institutions can be the best method for correcting the systems in Kazakhstan .

The time is ripe to take another look at the Correctional Policy in

Kazakhstan . I am convinced that studying the Correctional Meth­ ods of other countries and then developing their policies and work programs for a Prison Reform Supp.ort Center will bring my coun­ try closer to the norms and rules  of  a  civilized  society,  which takes care of every citizen, even those who have erred.

 

Officials of Kazakhstan Tour Kansas Prisons" Associated Press (11/17/00)

Nine Kazakhstan officials are visiting Kansas in order to under­ stand the American structure of the department of corrections and glean innovations for the 96 prisons and 85,000 inmates in that country. The trip, which was sponsored by Senim, a Southern Baptist-funded humanitarian organization, brought the officials to state prisons, juvenile detention centers, county jails , and correc­ tional facilities in the state. The Kazakhstan officials are im­ pressed with the mingling of prisoners and staff, the modem tech­ nology, the fact that there is one state employee for every seven inmates, and how prisoners worked inside and outside of the pris­ ons. However, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Internal Affairs , Nicoly Vlasov, points out that American innovations and tech­ nologies are great, but hard to achieve in Kazakhstan on a budget of just slightly more than $1 million per prison, compared to $8.5 million for a single correctional facility in Kansas.