Kazakhstan Improves Its Position in Incarceration List

According to Zhanat Eshmagambetov, head of the Committee on Penitentiary System under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of inmates in Kazakhstani prisons has been reduced by two times for the last nine years.

As Eshmagambetov said at the media briefing, Kazakhstan holds the 100th position in the global incarceration list while 18 years ago it took third place right after the United States and Russia. 

«Currently, there are 82 penitentiary facilities in Kazakhstan where more than 30,000 prisoners are staying. Earlier, we have had about 57,000 people in prisons,» he said.  

The incarceration and legal conditions of the inmates are much better now, Eshmagabetov added. 

According to the official, prisoners may approach court or authorities via electronic systems. Also, they and their relatives may order food, clothes, books and other legal stuff with the help of e-shops that have been opened in the prisons.

«I would like to underscore that under the order of the minister, those who should stay in prison can now chat with their loved ones via video call and receive gifts up to 20 kilograms in weight. Earlier the maximum for such parcels was just 14 kilograms,» he said.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy became the most popular book among prisoners in the Karaganda region, the local Department for Penitentiary System data shows. 

In general, the top five most popular books include: Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy), Three Comrades (Erich Maria Remarque), Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki), The Godfather (Mario Puzo) and Cruel Age (Isay Kalashnikov). Also, inmates of the Kazakhstani prisons like to read Edifying Words by Abay (prominent Kazakh poet) and the poetry of Esenin, Anna Akhmatova and Alexander Block…