Decarceration of Elite and Popular Punitiveness: Soviet Gulag

Decarcerating Elite And Popular Punitiveness In The Shadow Of The Gulag Of The Former Soviet Union Presented by: Mr. Slade and Mr. Horn Date: October 8, 2021 Outline - How and why did Kazakhstan pursue decarcerating as a policy goal from the late 1990s onwards? • Background: punitive turns vs. Studies of decarcerating as 'virgin territory' • 2decarceration in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and Kazakhstan (KZ) • Understanding the KZ case: insulation from public opinion, the prison service as initiator (data from elite interviews, opinion surveys) • Conclusion: FSU and theories of decarceration Punitive Turn VS. Decarceration - Punitive turn: studies highlight the self-reinforcing role of public opinion, sensationalist media, political opportunism - punishing stigmatized groups in a wider political economy of deregulated markets, diminished welfare states - Decarcerating - Jacobs (2007): a relative lack of studies in this area - 'virgin territory' - Growing interest: historical and contemporary cases (Gartner et al. 2011; Eisenberg 2016; Schrantz et al. 2018) Overcoming Resistance To Decarceration - On a meso-level, decarcerating is theoretically more likely when there is: • Insulation of penal policy-making from politicization (Gartner et al. 2011) • Overcoming of vested interests or reimagining of prison services • 'A radical (transformation] of the role, outlook, and self-image of prison industry professionals. (Eisenberg 2016: 139) - How do these factors play out in the FSU? Decarcerating In The Former Soviet Union Mechanisms Of Decarceration In Kazakhstan - First wave 1998-2010: • Changes to criminal code: expansion of administrative offences and misdemeanors • Criminal procedural code: move to reconciliation from 1997 onwards - 5% of criminal cases decided in this way in 2002, 47% by 2012 - divert from courts • Driven by ministry of interior and prison service as part of 'humanization' of criminal justice • Led to second wave 2010-2018: 'ten steps to reduce the prison population' (2013) Narratives Of Decarceration In Kazakhstan - Economic burden of mass incarceration - Prison conditions in crisis - Break with the past - becoming a normal country - International standing: 'global performance state (Heathershaw 2013) - These narratives were mainly for elite consumption - presidential admin - The prison service, firstly, mobilized these narratives Insulation From Public Opinion, Prison Service As Facilitator Punitiveness In Public Opinion - Nationally representative surveys 2019 Kazakhstan and Russia - Kazakhstani public opinion more punitive than Russian - Lack of support for lenient sentencing - ICVS results suggests high degrees of positivism in international comparison Economic Burden & Crisis Conditions - 'To be honest, the public wasn't surveyed, nobody asked for public opinion. It was mainly the prison service as the initiator who worked on this because the procuracy, ministry of interior, PA, MPS they want a general picture and once it is in place...then the public understands...that the [state] budget is the winner' - KZEX2: formerly head of Almaty oblast prison service; governor of Almaty city jail; deputy head of national prison service, Kazakhstan - When the USSR collapsed...it was a crisis. When i first started...in one medium security prison there were 1800 people... There was overcrowding everywhere. In all the camps, 75,000 prisoner’s total.... we had cases of malnutrition... We caught fish from the river to feed the colony. - KZEX1: formerly deputy chief of prison service; head of prison service Karaganda oblast Break With The Past: A 'Normal Country' - KZEX6 formerly head of operative department, MOI; head of prison service, Akmolinsk oblast; head of prison service, Karaganda oblast • We are the successors of the soviet union...the soviet union was a punitive system, avenge, punish, severity, no quarter...it rubbed off on us all and many people believed [in punitiveness] ...that first wave, it was the most difficult...to persuade the people of humanization... We approached it carefully we tried not to touch the gravest crimes...so we could explain to civilians [Granzhdanskim] - it's his first time... Let's not do this.' International Standing - 'Global performance state (Heathershaw 2013) - use of international rankings to simulate efficacy - In the 1990s MOI officials travelled to Poland and Sweden - Penal reform international opened an office and played a strong supporting role - In 1999 when we came in [to run the prison service], the government, the presidential administration, we all wanted to...decrease the prison population. We were third in the world per 100,000. First was America, second Russia, third - Kazakhstan. • Kzex1: formerly deputy chief of prison service; head of prison service Karaganda oblast Mobilizing The Prison Service - AS PART OF THE MOI, THE PRISON SERVICE MAINTAINED INFLUENCE - MOI OFFICERS NOT ALLOWED TO BE UNIONIZED - NOT ALLOWED TO JOIN POLITICAL PARTIES - PRISON SERVICE PROFESSIONAL CULTURE SUBSUMED BY MOI/MILITARIZED PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY CONCLUSION: FSU AND DECARCERATION - FSU cases speak to two literatures: • Global and southern criminology - how does the FSU fit?  Position in global semi-periphery: prison rates a signal of respect for HR to attract wanted but not needed FDI  High prison rates as partly a Soviet legacy  Regional intertwining (CIS, Eurasian Economic Union) produces similar laws and procedures - Theories of punitive and leniency turns: • Multiple cases of specific decarcerating processes, each one varies by speed and depth of decarcerating due to:  Regime types: the degree of policy insulation due to regime hybridity/authoritarianism  Mobilizing actors: unintuitive role of prison service, prosecutors  Institutional arrangements and power balance produce varying mechanisms of decarcerating