RUSSIA: GOVERNMENT CAN'T AFFORD TO FUND PSYCHIATRIC WARDS скачать в хорошем качестве

RUSSIA: GOVERNMENT CAN'T AFFORD TO FUND PSYCHIATRIC WARDS

(7 Oct 1996) Russian/Nat Russia's cash-strapped government can no longer afford to keep some of its most dangerous men behind bars. The St. Petersburg psychiatric ward for criminals has all of its inmates on near starvation rations. If funds aren't forthcoming soon, either the prisoners will starve in their tiny cells or be transferred to regular psychiatric wards from which they can easily escape. Behind this barbed wire lurk many of Russia's most volatile criminals. St. Petersburg's high security detention centre for the mentally insane is home to murderers, sex offenders and even cannibals. It is Russia's second largest holding centre for the criminally insane. But its very existence is threatened by the financial crisis that has swept across all of Russia. Prison officials are now operating on a day to day basis. Guards, psychiatrists and doctors haven't been paid in months but many are spending their own funds on basic supplies for the prisoners, terrified that the already violent inmates will become uncontrollable. With only enough money left for two weeks worth of food, doctors and guards fear the worst. Prisoners' meals of watery soup and gooey "kasha" have already been reduced to near starvation rations. Water and electricity bills haven't been paid in months and crucial medical supplies will last only another week. If the government doesn't provide money soon the prisoners face starvation in their tiny, dank cells. Either that or the unstable convicts could be transferred to a regular psychiatric hospital where escape would be simple. Staff fear a third outcome, a prison riot. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "We are facing a hunger uprising. This kind of thing can happen even amongst normal people who don't get enough to eat. But here we are dealing with sick people. The entire situation is unpredictable and it can very soon come to a critical point, even a tragedy." SUPER CAPTION, Gregory Masyokha, prison psychiatrist A guard keeps constant watch over the prisoners in this cell. They're considered among the most dangerous men in the prison. Even before the funding crisis Russia's prisons and mental wards were never pristine. Prison conditions in Russia are frighteningly inadequate and have been labelled by the United Nations as "inhumane". By law the Russian government is supposed to spend five dollars a day on each inmate but a nation-wide budgetary crisis has left each inmate or mental patient with under a dollar a day. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "Those who are more stable might do okay with less food but those in here who are on the brink of madness can start a riot or a revolt. Then they will come in with the guards and the straight jackets and put us all down." SUPER CAPTION Gregory Privalov, psychiatric prison inmate, serving time for murder With barely enough money to feed the inmates, rehabilitation in Russia's prisons and psychiatric wards is almost unheard of. Patients are kept in a constant state of deprivation. Many of the patients at the St. Petersburg facility feed themselves with money from government pensions. If it weren't for prisoners' private food purchases officials say many would have starved long ago. But it's perhaps Russia's regular citizens who have to fear the most from the financial crisis at this prison. More than half of the inmates in here are serving time for murder. SOUNDBITE: (Russia) "Other psychiatric hospitals can just close but we can't. We can't just let these people out on the street. 65% of our inmates are cold-blooded murderers." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...