The Moscow Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service reported on drug supply and medical care in pre-trial detention centers. According to the administration of the Federal Penitentiary Service, the prisoners in the capital’s pre-trial detention centers are fully provided with the necessary drugs. However, such an optimistic conclusion is not shared by human rights activists. According to them, complaints about improper medical care outnumber all other appeals of arrested citizens and their relatives.
AN EXPENSIVE PARCEL
At a meeting of the Public Council under the Federal Penitentiary Service, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow, Sergei Moroz, admitted that pharmacies might appear in the capital’s prisons. Rather than traditional pharmacies, they will be open as special outlets accumulating the drugs that will be sent to prisoners by their relatives and friends. This can be based on the experience in pre-trial detention centers of the city of Irkutsk, where prisoners are allowed to receive parcels containing medicines.
However, Mr. Moroz stressed that at present, Moscow prisons do not lack the necessary medicines of domestic origin, and additional procurements are performed if necessary. “The prisoners are fully provided with necessary medications in accordance with the law,” he stated.
So why do we need prison pharmacies at all? “Sometimes prisoners’ mothers and spouses try to supply them with a whole arsenal of medicines “just in case they come in handy,” Sergei Moroz explains. The idea of opening special pharmacy outlets in pre-trial detention centers is being considered in order to allow relatives to send more expensive drugs, including imported ones.
However, there are no real reasons for concern as to the prisoners’ health, says the head of the medical and sanitary office of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Galina Timchuk. According to the reported data, more than 10.8 thousand cases of diseases among prisoners were registered in the first half of this year, while there were 12.5 thousand such cases in the same period of the last year. The costs for purchasing medicines are growing, she added. While in the first half of 2016, more than 8.3 million rubles were spent to purchase drugs for prisoners in pre-trial detention centers of Moscow (779 rubles per person on average), this amount reached 11.2 million rubles this year (an average of 1053 rubles per prisoner).
NEVER TRUST, NEVER FEAR, NEVER BEG
However, the idyllic picture described by the heads of the capital’s prison service contrasts sharply with the information that PhV received from the fund “In Defense of the Prisoners’ Rights.” “The complaints about medical services are on the first place among all the appeals,” said Nadezhda Radnayeva, a lawyer of the fund. “In this case, one of the most common complaints concerns the non-provision of medicines. The prisoners complain that all their diseases are treated with a single tablet of paracetamol.”
Human rights activists send citizens’ appeals to the authorities with a request to verify information and take the necessary measures. “In vast majority of cases, we receive answers according to which the information has not been confirmed, everyone is provided with medicines, and all the prisoners are supplied with the necessary drugs,” the lawyer continued.
Meanwhile, the number of complaints has not decreased over the years, she added. Sometimes, prisoners’ relatives are asked to purchase medicines on their own. Those of them, who are worried about the fate of their loved ones and have sufficient financial means, obey these rules. Others are left to hope for a miracle and for good will of the prison staff, despite the acute shortage of the medical personnel in pre-trial detention centers.
"The medical department of the Federal Penitentiary Service will always be able to prove the fact of fully supplying all the necessary medicines,” Nadezhda Radnaeva emphasized. “Even when we appeal to the European Court with claims for inadequate medical care, we are immediately shown that the person got treatment, and everything is fine with them. A list of documents is provided, with hundreds of pages in small print, where all the drugs supplied to the medical unit are listed. But in fact, it is obvious that the penitentiary services are trying to withhold the medicines.”
PhV tried to shed light on the real situation with the provision of medicines for prisoners by studying the data of the analytical company AlphaRM on state purchases of the Federal Penitentiary Service based on the results of 2016. Several trends were identified. Thus, within one INN, the drugs intended for prisoners are cheaper than those on sale in the city’s pharmacies. For example, the price difference for Ibuprofen is 70%. The data for other segments of drug provision (preferential provision, hospitals, and target programs) are similar: an anti-tuberculosis drug Terizidone costs 84% cheaper in prisons.
Another conclusion: the laws of market competition do not work in case of drugs procurement by the Federal Penitentiary Service. When breaking the drugs purchases down by brands, a trend was revealed: the Federal Penitentiary Service purchases drugs at a higher price for a package than ordinary pharmacies’ prices (see the Table).
The Moscow Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service reported on drug supply and medical care in pre-trial detention centers. According to the administration of the Federal Penitentiary Service, the prisoners in the capital’s pre-trial detention centers are fully provided with the necessary drugs. However, such an optimistic conclusion is not shared by human rights activists. According to them, complaints about improper medical care outnumber all other appeals of arrested citizens and their relatives.
AN EXPENSIVE PARCEL
At a meeting of the Public Council under the Federal Penitentiary Service, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Moscow, Sergei Moroz, admitted that pharmacies might appear in the capital’s prisons. Rather than traditional pharmacies, they will be open as special outlets accumulating the drugs that will be sent to prisoners by their relatives and friends. This can be based on the experience in pre-trial detention centers of the city of Irkutsk, where prisoners are allowed to receive parcels containing medicines.
However, Mr. Moroz stressed that at present, Moscow prisons do not lack the necessary medicines of domestic origin, and additional procurements are performed if necessary. “The prisoners are fully provided with necessary medications in accordance with the law,” he stated.
So why do we need prison pharmacies at all? “Sometimes prisoners’ mothers and spouses try to supply them with a whole arsenal of medicines “just in case they come in handy,” Sergei Moroz explains. The idea of opening special pharmacy outlets in pre-trial detention centers is being considered in order to allow relatives to send more expensive drugs, including imported ones.
However, there are no real reasons for concern as to the prisoners’ health, says the head of the medical and sanitary office of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Galina Timchuk. According to the reported data, more than 10.8 thousand cases of diseases among prisoners were registered in the first half of this year, while there were 12.5 thousand such cases in the same period of the last year. The costs for purchasing medicines are growing, she added. While in the first half of 2016, more than 8.3 million rubles were spent to purchase drugs for prisoners in pre-trial detention centers of Moscow (779 rubles per person on average), this amount reached 11.2 million rubles this year (an average of 1053 rubles per prisoner).
NEVER TRUST, NEVER FEAR, NEVER BEG
However, the idyllic picture described by the heads of the capital’s prison service contrasts sharply with the information that PhV received from the fund “In Defense of the Prisoners’ Rights.” “The complaints about medical services are on the first place among all the appeals,” said Nadezhda Radnayeva, a lawyer of the fund. “In this case, one of the most common complaints concerns the non-provision of medicines. The prisoners complain that all their diseases are treated with a single tablet of paracetamol.”
Human rights activists send citizens’ appeals to the authorities with a request to verify information and take the necessary measures. “In vast majority of cases, we receive answers according to which the information has not been confirmed, everyone is provided with medicines, and all the prisoners are supplied with the necessary drugs,” the lawyer continued.
Meanwhile, the number of complaints has not decreased over the years, she added. Sometimes, prisoners’ relatives are asked to purchase medicines on their own. Those of them, who are worried about the fate of their loved ones and have sufficient financial means, obey these rules. Others are left to hope for a miracle and for good will of the prison staff, despite the acute shortage of the medical personnel in pre-trial detention centers.
"The medical department of the Federal Penitentiary Service will always be able to prove the fact of fully supplying all the necessary medicines,” Nadezhda Radnaeva emphasized. “Even when we appeal to the European Court with claims for inadequate medical care, we are immediately shown that the person got treatment, and everything is fine with them. A list of documents is provided, with hundreds of pages in small print, where all the drugs supplied to the medical unit are listed. But in fact, it is obvious that the penitentiary services are trying to withhold the medicines.”
PhV tried to shed light on the real situation with the provision of medicines for prisoners by studying the data of the analytical company AlphaRM on state purchases of the Federal Penitentiary Service based on the results of 2016. Several trends were identified. Thus, within one INN, the drugs intended for prisoners are cheaper than those on sale in the city’s pharmacies. For example, the price difference for Ibuprofen is 70%. The data for other segments of drug provision (preferential provision, hospitals, and target programs) are similar: an anti-tuberculosis drug Terizidone costs 84% cheaper in prisons.
Another conclusion: the laws of market competition do not work in case of drugs procurement by the Federal Penitentiary Service. When breaking the drugs purchases down by brands, a trend was revealed: the Federal Penitentiary Service purchases drugs at a higher price for a package than ordinary pharmacies’ prices (see the Table).
Read more: https://www.pharmvestnik.ru/publs/lenta/v-rossii/tabletku-v-kletku-prnt-17-m8-895.html