1. Kyrgyzstan's Prison System Nightmare
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- While Kyrgyzstan still struggles to find political stability in the wake of its 2005 revolution, deteriorating conditions in its prison system, known by its Russian acronym GUIN, pose a threat to the fragile state's security and public health. Badly underfunded and forgotten, GUIN has all but lost control over the nearly 16,000 inmates for which it is responsible. Power has passed into the hands of criminal leaders for whom prison populations are armies in reserve. A lack of buffers between prisons and the government has meant that trouble in jails has already led to serious conflicts outside their crumbling walls. The risks of strife in prisons leading to wider political instability is likely to worsen unless the government and donors launch an urgent process of penal reform.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Civil Society, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Central Asia, and Kyrgyzstan