The Russian penal system attracted the world's attention last week. In protest against prison conditions, about 500 prisoners in the Lgow prison camp slashed blood vessels on their necks, arms and legs. A similar protest occurred some two months earlier in the Eastern Siberian region of Irkutsk. For this reason, German media reported in detail on the Russian penal system with its presently 770,000 prisoners in over 1,000 camps and prisons.

At the same time as the incidents south of Moscow, a team from the German prison mission, Gefährdetenhilfe Scheideweg e.V. (from Hückeswagen near Cologne) was visiting prisons in the Asian part of Russia. The group of twelve toured prisons in the Southern Siberian regions of Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude and Tschita for 14 days. Gefährdetenhilfe Scheideweg maintains a branch in Ulan-Ude, where a German couple takes released prisoners into their family and visits prisons with fellow Russian volunteers.  

The Scheideweg team staged football and volleyball tournaments for prisoners, as well as concerts with Christian songs in the German and Russian languages. They also reported on their experiences in their work in Germany. They discussed experiences in penal systems and prison mission work with the president of the penal system and prison managers. In a women's prison 150 km north of Irkutsk, the German association plans to start a project to improve the water quality. First discussions on this were held with those responsible locally. Among other locations, the group visited a prison for tuberculosis sufferers in Zolga, a young offenders' prison in Tschita and the open prison in Ulan Ude. Gefährdetenhilfe Scheideweg experienced an unusually positive response to the encounters and programs from prisoners and prison officers. There was little time for sightseeing, but a visit to the 600-km long Lake Baikal was a must.

In advance of the trip, Chief Executive Achim Halfmann and Friedel Pfeiffer, as Honorary Chairman, held talks with penal system managers in Moscow revolving around a law to re-integrate released prisoners into society that the Russian parliament, the Duma, is currently debating. The number of prisoners in Russia has decreased by a total of 240,000 people over the last seven years, which brought many prisoners their freedom. But initiatives by the prison missions are still in their infancy in Russia. Because of the high number of ex-convicts, the country faces huge challenges, and the experience of the German association was very well received in the encounters with the newly founded Russian Ministry for Prisons. 

The guests from Hückeswagen also held talks with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and Baptist communities. Orthodox counsellors with church programs already work in the majority of Russian prisons. Apart from evangelical programmes, a focal point of the work of the Baptist communities in prisons is on help for released prisoners: Across the country there are about 40 rehabilitation centres for ex-prisoners and drug addicts.

"With the clear reduction in the number of people imprisoned, the Russian penal system is on the right track," emphasised Gefährdetenhilfe Chief Executive Achim Halfmann after the trip. It means that the government has been able to improve the quality of accommodation for prisoners and tackle the most urgent problems: 10% of prisoners are regarded as infected with tuberculosis and some 5% are HIV-positive - trend upwards. In addition, they want to base their work on European penal system guidelines. So a rethinking process has begun among prison staff and the team from Scheideweg were asked many questions about the German penal system. "The high number of released prisoners represents a challenge to society, for which it was hardly prepared up to now. This is a call on Christians to put their trust in God's offer of absolution into action and to integrate released prisoners into family, work and leisure groups", continued Achim Halfmann. The Hückeswagen association plans to offer Russian Christians even more support in the future in building up businesses and integration programmes for released prisoners. A return visit by representatives of the Russian penal system and Russian Christians engaged in prison mission work is planned for the autumn.