OREANDA-NEWS The number of convicts in the Russian colonies for the first time reached a historical minimum - less than 500 thousand people. This was reported to journalists in the press office of the Federal penitentiary service (FSIN) of the Russian Federation.

"To date, in correctional facilities of criminal Executive system contains 467 thousand. In the modern history of Russia-this is the smallest number of prisoners serving sentences in penal colonies," - said the FSIN.

The reason for the reduction in the number of convicts was the liberalization of the penal policy of the state, the Department noted. "Only in the last 10 years, their number has decreased by almost a quarter of a million people," the press office explained.

As told in the Department, every year this figure is reduced: five years ago in penal colonies, prisons, medical correctional institutions and educational colonies contained 588,000 people.

According to the Ministry, every year the number of convicts decreases. In January 2013, 588,000 convicts were held in correctional colonies, prisons, medical correctional institutions and educational colonies. "In 2014, this figure amounted to 563 thousand, in 2017 - 523 thousand, at the beginning of 2018, 497 thousand 840 convicts were serving their sentences in the colonies. Now as of December 1 this year, 467 thousand 724 people are held in correctional institutions of the penal system," the FSIN reported.

On December 11, President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the problem of overcrowded prisons and said that it was unacceptable to keep dozens of people in one cell.

In November, Deputy chief of the FSIN Valery Maksimenko spoke about the lack of places in the colonies for the former security forces. In July, Vladimir Putin signed a law equating one day in jail to one and a half days in prison.