Rossiyskaya gazeta is the official organ of the government of the Russian Federation, so you can safely assume that anything printed in it represents the official party line. Below we offer our exclusive translation of a recent opinion piece, in which a retired senior Russian Supreme Court judge discusses the social ramifications of the fact that one quarter of Russian males have been through the prison system, and offers solutions that sound suspiciously liberal, although he quickly backtracks and insists that they are actually quite the opposite. Our translator has intentionally tried to preserve the heavy-handed Soviet linguistic style of the original. Of particular interest is the introduction, which may very well have been added recently, after the rest of the article was written, since it reeks so heavily of the current party line. What are the most important reasons why a large number of prisoners and ex-cons is bad for the “social structure” of the motherland? The surprising answer is that lots of prisoners mean a lower birthrate, since people are prevented from reproducing while behind bars, while persons with criminal records are prohibited from serving in the Russian military, so the more ex-cons you’ve got, the smaller your pool of cannon fodder for your latest expansionist adventure. Josef Stalin didn’t have such qualms – he simply sent zeks straight to the front during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Sitting pretty Nearly a quarter of the male population has already gone through prison universities point of view Photo: Vladimir Radchenko, first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court (ret.), head of the center of the Institute of legislation and comparative legal science attached to the government of the RF Our “prison population” had come to a critical mark. Over the last 16 years – from 1992 through the year 2007 – in excess of 15 million persons have been convicted in the country. More than every tenth [person] out of a population of 140 million. Almost a million people per year. Of these 5 million and then some have been deprived of liberty. Let us think about these numbers. Their consequences manifest themselves on the social structure of society, demographics and even on the defense capacity of the country. An excessive “prison population” does not stimulate the birthrate, a criminal record narrows the circle of people subject to callup for military service.