Health and human security - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 174

The typical example of the first of these types of problems is the priority
given to prisons in the Task Force. A separate programme for prisons was
established under the Task Force in 2001, and many of the projects under the
other programmes (concerning, for example, tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS) are
also oriented towards the prison system. Specifically, physical reconstruction
has been performed to prevent the spread of communicable diseases: isolates
have been built, and cells, kitchens, laundries and other prison facilities have
been renovated. Our interviewees tend to understand the rationale behind
these projects, i.e. they do not think their Western partners have suspicious
intentions or are insensitive to the situation. They probably also understand
that the health gains might be considerable. However, some of them displayed
exasperation at the fact that this part of society is singled out for financial
assistance from the West. As expressed by one high-ranking Russian official:
We do not understand why prisons are given priority. In Russia, we
have always given priority to women, pregnant women, children and the
elderly. The prisoners are bandits! In official meetings [with Western
partners], the Russian [representatives in Task Force projects] do not
object, but many of them really don't understand the priority given to
prisons. It is also difficult to explain this to the public. For example, in
Murmansk a lot of money is given to an isolate in a prison colony, while
there is little to give to civilian tuberculosis institutions. People don't
understand this. I can hear the voice of the people [this can't be right]!
Another example: In Petrozavodsk, there were problems with the town's
water pipes. The same problem was found in their prisons, but after the
Task Force was there, conditions in the prison are better than in the town!
In this particular case, our interviewee claims to speak on behalf of the Russia
people, but also seems to be expressing his personal opinion. When he says
that 'we do not understand why prisons are given priority', and in the next
sentence '[i]n Russia, we have always…', he seems to want to voice the opinion
of Russians in general (implying that he might happen to be in favour of these
projects personally). However, we feel that his opinions on others' behalf are not
far from his own personal belief, either. It is also interesting to note his claim to
the effect that 'nobody objects to these projects in conversations with Western
partners, but they are actually against them'. Others aired similar doubts about
the prison projects, though they emphasized that they themselves were favour-
ably disposed towards them. For instance, some of our Baltic interviewees
argued that opposition to prison projects could be explained by these countries'
Soviet heritage (and thus was 'not really Baltic'): 'The mentality was such [in
the Soviet Union] that society did not have to take care of prisoners. For many
people, it is very difficult to understand why prisoners should get more financial
support per capita than the unemployed.' Others, again, blame opposition to
the closed nature of the prison sector during the Soviet era: