Prisoners who are in the same colony have the right to correspond with each other. This decision was made by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
The Board considered the complaint of one of the prisoners who is serving a life sentence in the Khabarovsk region. He corresponded with another prisoner from the same colony for eight months. However, then the administration of the institution banned correspondence. The colony referred to the instructions prohibiting inspectors from allowing contacts between convicts from different cells.
The definition of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation emphasizes that there is no ban on such correspondence in Russian legislation. The administration of the colony can indeed prohibit prisoners from texting, but this decision must be justified.
The Supreme Court noted that in this case, the correctional institution had no evidence that the correspondence should have been banned in order to ensure security and prevent possible planning of new crimes.
Earlier, the Ministry of Justice of Russia proposed to allow prisoners to use the Internet, but with restrictions. Thus, it is planned to give convicts access to the network for using legal systems, official websites of courts and state authorities.