Flashback to my report in BMJ on the shocking state of Russian prisoners health in 2003, conditions have vastly improved under Putin as one example of why the Russians appreciate him

 From the BMJ in 2003

BMJ

. 2003 Nov 8;327(7423):1066. doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7423.1066-b.

Three quarters of Russia's prisoners have serious diseases

Jane Burgermeister

PMID: 14604908 PMCID: PMC261767 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.327.7423.1066-b

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14604908/https://www.statista.com/statistics/1294196/ukraine-arms-imports-by-country/

Three quarters of prisoners in Russia have a serious disease such as tuberculosis and AIDS or another illness, the country's ministry of justice admitted last month.

About 74 000 prisoners are infected with tuberculosis, 36 000 are HIV positive, 26 000 have syphilis, and 1500 have hepatitis, said Alla Kusnezowa, deputy director of the ministry's department for sentence execution.

Also, a third of the country's 820 000 prisoners have mental health problems, and almost all prisoners take drugs.

The grim statistics highlight the poor conditions that prevail in Russia's prisons more than 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Human rights campaigners warn that overcrowding, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene have made prisons a breeding ground for disease.

Part of the problem is that the prison authorities cannot afford the drugs to keep the diseases at bay. Shortages of drugs mean that prisoners with tuberculosis usually do not complete their course of treatment, leading to drug resistant strains. About 30 000 prisoners are estimated to have multidrug resistant tuberculosis.

Health experts also warn that the tens of thousands of infected inmates who are released each year are carrying tuberculosis to the rest of the population. Russia is thought to have 342 000 active cases of tuberculosis, and the number of new cases reported in 2001 was 133 000.

The risk of a tuberculosis epidemic comes at a time when the country's health service is in crisis, universal free access to high quality health care has disappeared, and regional clinics are severely underfunded.

In a first step to improve conditions in prisons Russian authorities have taken action to reduce overcrowding.