Systemic, Institutional and Idiosyncratic Factors of Corruption in Foreign Penitentiary Systems: Experience in Countering Administrative Discretion
Nagornykh R.V. Systemic, institutional and idiosyncratic factors of corruption in foreign penitentiary systems: experience in countering administrative discretion. Penitentiary Science, 2022, vol. 16, no. 4 (60), pp. 417–424. doi: 10.46741/2686-9764.2022.60.4.008.
Introduction: the article analyzes issues of improving legislation and organizational and managerial (administrative) activities in the field of combating corruption in foreign penitentiary systems. Purpose: to study problems of combating corruption in the penitentiary sphere with the help of administrative and legal means in foreign countries. The article notes that detention and punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty contribute to the emergence of threats of hypertrophied application of administrative discretion in relation to convicts by the administration of penitentiary institutions. Systemic and institutional corruption in the penitentiary sphere is formed only in idiosyncratic conditions of manifestations of illegal corrupt behavior of senior management of penitentiary bodies and institutions. The methodological basis of the work consists of general scientific and private scientific (logical-legal, comparative-legal, descriptive, content analysis) methods of cognition of legal reality. Conclusions: the fight against corruption in the penitentiary sphere can be effective only if the share of administrative discretion in relation to prisoners is reduced by the administration of penitentiary institutions through establishment of strict regulatory restrictions and prohibitions in the field of administrative activities, implementation of constant external independent control by state bodies and the public over correctional facility activities, conduct of various educational and promotional activities, strengthening of social protection of the staff of institutions and carrying out of measures aimed at increasing public prestige of the penitentiary service. The scientific and practical significance of the work lies in the substantiation of practical proposals on the possibility of using foreign experience in combating corruption in the penitentiary sphere in the domestic practice of state-legal construction.
Keywords: penitentiary sphere; idiosyncratic corruption; administrative control; administrative discretion.
deprivation. Vestnik instituta: prestuplenie, nakazanie, ispravlenie=Institute Bulletin: Crime, Punishment, Correction, 2009,
no. 9, pp. 10–14. (In Russ.).
2. Marcou G. Fight against corruption in France. Zhurnal zarubezhnogo zakonodatel’stva i sravnitel’nogo
pravovedeniya=Journal of Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law, 2012, no. 3 (34), pp. 34–38. (In Russ.).
3. Matskevich I.M., Aminov I.I. Experience of preventing systemic and specific corruption in correctional institutions abroad.
Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta im. S. Yu. Vitte. Seriya 2: Yuridicheskie nauki=Moscow Witte University Bulletin. Series 2:
Legal Science, 2017, no. 4 (13), pp. 54–59. (In Russ.). doi: 10.21777/2587-9472-2017-4-54-59.
4. Nagornykh R.V. Restrictions and limitations in the system of public service in law enforcement. Vestnik Tomskogo
gosudarstvennogo universiteta=Tomsk State University Journal, 2019, no. 447, pp. 241–246. (In Russ.).
5. Oboturova N.S. Changing the conditions of serving imprisonment in the legislation of the Republic of Belarus:
historical aspect. Penitentsiarnaya nauka=Penitentiary Science, 2019, vol. 13, no. 4 (48), pp. 456–461. (In Russ.). doi:
10.24411/2686-9764-2019-10001.
6. Puzyrei A.A., Podvoiskii D.G. Interiorization. In: Bol’shaya rossiiskaya entsiklopediya: elektronnaya versiya [Big Russian
Encyclopedia: electronic version]. Available at: https://bigenc.ru/psychology/text/2014359 (In Russ.). (Accessed August
21, 2022).
7. Anti-corruption measures in prisons. United Nations. Office on Drugs and Crime: website. Available at: https://www.
unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/prisons.html (accessed August 21, 2022).
8. Blackburn K.A, Neanidis K.C.,·Rana M.P. Theory of organized crime, corruption and economic growth. Economic Theory
Bulletin, 2017, no. 5, pp. 227–245. Available at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40505-017-0116-5.pdf.
(accessed August 25, 2022). doi: 10.1007/s40505-017-0116-5
9. Corrupción, el mal quecreció en cárceles con el coronavirus. El Diario: website. Available at: https://www.eldiario.net/
portal/2021/08/16/corrupcion-el-mal-que-crecio-en-carceles-con-el-coronavirus/ (accessed August 25, 2022).
10. Dilulio J. Governing prisons: a comparative study of correctional management. New York: Free Press, 1987. 349 p.
11. Global Prison Trends 2016. Penal Reform International: website. Available at: https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/
uploads/2016/05/Global_prison_trends_report_2016.pdf (accessed October 15, 2022).
12. Handbook on anti-corruption measures in prisons. Vienna: United Nations, 2017. 99 p. Available at: https://www.unodc.
org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/17-06140_HB_anti-corr_prisons_eBook.pdf (accessed October 15, 2022).
13. Handbook on the management of violent extremist prisoners and the prevention of radicalization to violence in prisons.
New York: United Nations, 2016. 148 p. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Handbook_on_VEPs.pdf
(accessed September 11, 2022).
14. Hill G. Corruption risks in the criminal justice chain and tools for assessment. Chapter 5: Detention and corrections.
Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, 2015. 9 p. Available at: https://www.u4.no/publications/corruption-risks-in-thecriminal-justice-chain-and-tools-for-assessment-chapter-5-detention-and-corrections.pdf (accessed August 25, 2022).
15. How prisons corrupt – and what to do about it. The Global Anticorruption Blog. Available at: https://
globalanticorruptionblog.com/2016/12/09/how-prisons-corrupt-and-what-to-do-about-it(accessed October 15, 2022).
16. Informe penitenciario. Unamirada al mundo carcelario peruano. Lima: Comisión episcopal de acción social, 2006. 82 p.
Available at: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/23775.pdf (accessed August 25, 2022).
17. Introductory handbook on the prevention of recidivism and the social reintegration of offenders. Vienna: United Nations,
2018. 129 p. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/18-02303_ebook.pdf (accessed
August 21, 2022).
18. Prison incident management handbook. United Nation Peacekeeping: website. Available at: https://peacekeeping.
un.org/sites/default/files/handbook_pim. pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).
19. Ricordeau G. Between inside and outside: prison visiting rooms. Politix, 2012, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 101–123. Available at:
https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_POX_097_0101--between-inside-and-outside-prison.htm (accessed September 10, 2022).
20. Rosenberg M. Corrupt, insecure prisons undermine Mexico drug. Reuters: website. Available at: https://www.reuters.
com/article/us-mexico-jails-idUSTRE67H43A20100818 (accessed August 25, 2022).
21. Vannucci A. Three paradigms for the analysis of corruption. Labour & Law Issues, 2015, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 1–31. Available
at: http://hdl.handle.net/1814/39343 (accessed October 15, 2022).
22. Zepeda Lecuona G. Los mitos de la prisión preventiva en México. México: Open Society Institute, 2009. 21 p. Available
at: https://www.justiceinitiative.org/uploads/59bf32c6-14cc-498f-b68f-a3f374425885/mitos-mexico-20100801.pdf
(accessed August 25, 2022).
