Guerra de agressão da Rússia contra a Ucrânia: os novos mercenários, saídos das prisões (NYT)

 

Graves of Wagner group fighters, most of them prison conscripts, in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya, Russia, this month.Reuters

Russia’s convict fighters

In July, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia’s largest private military group, Wagner, started arriving via helicopter at prisons around the country with an offer to the inmates: Pay your debt to society by joining a private army in Ukraine.

Prigozhin promised the prisoners they would receive 100,000 rubles a month — the equivalent of $1,700 at the time, and nearly double Russia’s average monthly wage. He also offered bravery bonuses, $80,000 death payouts and, should they fulfill the six-month contract, freedom in the form of a presidential pardon.

Those who ran away, used drugs or alcohol or had sexual relations, he warned, would be killed.

My colleagues Anatoly Kurmanaev, Alina Lobzina and Ekaterina Bodyagina reported on the recruitment drive and the return to Russia of some convict fighters after they fulfilled the contract.

“These are psychologically broken people who are returning with a sense of righteousness, a belief that they have killed to defend the Motherland,” said Yana Gelmel, a Russian prisoner rights lawyer who works with enlisted inmates. “These can be very dangerous people.”

Since July, around 40,000 inmates have joined the Russian forces, according to Western intelligence agencies, the Ukrainian government and a prisoners’ rights association. Ukraine claims that nearly 30,000 have deserted or been killed or wounded, mostly in the fighting around the eastern city of Bakhmut, though that figure is difficult to confirm.

A former inmate himself, Prigozhin showed that he understood prison culture, skillfully combining a threat of punishment with a promise of a new, dignified life, according to rights activists and families.

“I needed your criminal talents to kill the enemy in the war,” Prigozhin said in one video. “Those who want to return, we are waiting for you to come back. Those who want to get married, get baptized, study — go ahead with a blessing.”

Most of the enlisted men were serving time for petty crimes like robbery and theft, but records from one penal colony seen by The New York Times show that the recruits also included men convicted of aggravated rape and multiple murders.

“There are no more crimes and no more punishments,” Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Behind Bars, said. “Anything is permissible now, and this brings very far-reaching consequences for any country.”

NYT Ukraine War Briefing, Jan 30, 2023

Escravidao moderna: o Estado brasileiro como principal violador daConstituicao, e da moralidade

Estranha esta matéria, pois não?

Over 12,000 people were held in New York City jails last year, according to the Independent Budget Office, with the city spending more per inmate than any other state or city.

Mas, a renda é gasta por causa do prisioneiro, não fica com ele, e sim se perde na burocracia.

City’s Annual Cost Per Inmate Is $168,000, Study Finds

By MARC SANTORA

The New York Times: August 23, 2013

New York City is an expensive place to live for just about everyone, including prisoners.

The city paid $167,731 to feed, house and guard each inmate last year,according to a study the Independent Budget Office released this week.

“It is troubling in both human terms and financial terms,” Doug Turetsky, the chief of staff for the budget office, said on Friday. With 12,287 inmates shuffling through city jails last year, he said, “it is a significant cost to the city.”

Mr. Turetsky added that he was not aware of any previous studies that broke down the cost per inmate in the jails, but there have been national studies.

And by nearly any measure, New York City spends more than every other state or city.

The Vera Institute of Justice released a study in 2012 that found the aggregate cost of prisons in 2010 in the 40 states that participated was $39 billion.

The annual average taxpayer cost in these states was $31,286 per inmate.

New York State was the most expensive, with an average cost of $60,000 per prison inmate.

The cost of incarcerating people in New York City’s jails is nearly three times as much.

Michael P. Jacobson, the director of the City University of New York Institute for State and Local Governance and a former city correction and probation commissioner, said part of the reason the city’s cost was so high was because it had a richly staffed system. “The inmate-to-staff ratio probably hovers around two prisoners for every guard,” he said.

The budget office said 83 percent of the expense per prisoner came from wages, benefits for staff and pension costs.

Mr. Jacobson noted the success in bringing down the city’s jail population — from a peak of about 23,000 in 1993 to about 12,000 people today — but said the fixed costs were not likely to go down soon.

Still, he said, there were things that could be done to save money, like reducing the amount of time people sat in jail awaiting trial. Some 76 percent of the inmates in the city were waiting for their cases to be disposed, according to the budget office.

The wait times have grown even as the number of felonies committed in the city has declined.

Since 2002, the time spent waiting for cases to be disposed of has gone to 95 days, from 76 days, Mr. Jacobson said.

The delays were worst in the Bronx, but Mr. Jacobson said the trend could be seen across the city.

“On paper you would think that with a lot less work, these things should be blowing through the system and they are not,” he said. “If you have more time to do something, you will take more time.”

Only 7 percent of inmates are women, according to the budget office report.

They are also more likely to be minorities: 57 percent are black, 33 percent Hispanic, 7 percent white and 1 percent Asian.

Encarcerado em NY: a maior renda per capita dos EUA: US$ 168.000

Estranha esta matéria, pois não?

Over 12,000 people were held in New York City jails last year, according to the Independent Budget Office, with the city spending more per inmate than any other state or city.

Mas, a renda é gasta por causa do prisioneiro, não fica com ele, e sim se perde na burocracia.

City’s Annual Cost Per Inmate Is $168,000, Study Finds

By MARC SANTORA

The New York Times: August 23, 2013

New York City is an expensive place to live for just about everyone, including prisoners.

The city paid $167,731 to feed, house and guard each inmate last year,according to a study the Independent Budget Office released this week.

“It is troubling in both human terms and financial terms,” Doug Turetsky, the chief of staff for the budget office, said on Friday. With 12,287 inmates shuffling through city jails last year, he said, “it is a significant cost to the city.”

Mr. Turetsky added that he was not aware of any previous studies that broke down the cost per inmate in the jails, but there have been national studies.

And by nearly any measure, New York City spends more than every other state or city.

The Vera Institute of Justice released a study in 2012 that found the aggregate cost of prisons in 2010 in the 40 states that participated was $39 billion.

The annual average taxpayer cost in these states was $31,286 per inmate.

New York State was the most expensive, with an average cost of $60,000 per prison inmate.

The cost of incarcerating people in New York City’s jails is nearly three times as much.

Michael P. Jacobson, the director of the City University of New York Institute for State and Local Governance and a former city correction and probation commissioner, said part of the reason the city’s cost was so high was because it had a richly staffed system. “The inmate-to-staff ratio probably hovers around two prisoners for every guard,” he said.

The budget office said 83 percent of the expense per prisoner came from wages, benefits for staff and pension costs.

Mr. Jacobson noted the success in bringing down the city’s jail population — from a peak of about 23,000 in 1993 to about 12,000 people today — but said the fixed costs were not likely to go down soon.

Still, he said, there were things that could be done to save money, like reducing the amount of time people sat in jail awaiting trial. Some 76 percent of the inmates in the city were waiting for their cases to be disposed, according to the budget office.

The wait times have grown even as the number of felonies committed in the city has declined.

Since 2002, the time spent waiting for cases to be disposed of has gone to 95 days, from 76 days, Mr. Jacobson said.

The delays were worst in the Bronx, but Mr. Jacobson said the trend could be seen across the city.

“On paper you would think that with a lot less work, these things should be blowing through the system and they are not,” he said. “If you have more time to do something, you will take more time.”

Only 7 percent of inmates are women, according to the budget office report.

They are also more likely to be minorities: 57 percent are black, 33 percent Hispanic, 7 percent white and 1 percent Asian.

Troca de prisioneiros entre Israel e Egito

Israel e Egito trocam prisioneiros sob acordo mediado pelos EUA

Reportagem de Dan Williams e Ori Lewis, em Jerusalém; e de Shaimaa Fayed e Omar Fahmy, no Cairo

Reuters, 28/10/2011

JERUSALÉM/TABA, Egito - O Egito libertou um americano-israelense que estava detido como um suposto espião e Israel liberou 25 egípcios em uma troca de prisioneiros nesta quinta-feira que irá aliviar as tensões entre os novos governantes do Cairo e os Estados Unidos e Israel.

Ilan Grapel, de 27 anos, viajou para Israel acompanhado por dois enviados israelenses nomeados pelo primeiro-ministro israelense, Benjamin Netanyahu, com quem ele se reuniu no final do dia. Sorrindo, ele abraçou sua mãe, que o esperava na pista do aeroporto de Tel Aviv.

Os egípcios libertados cruzaram por terra até o deserto do Sinai, alguns deles de joelhos em uma oração de agradecimento. “Eu não posso descrever meus sentimentos hoje”, afirmou um dos egípcios libertados, Fayez Abdel Hamid, a repórteres.
O Egito prendeu Grapel em junho sob suspeita de que ele estava fora para recrutar agentes e monitorar eventos na revolta que derrubou Hosni Mubarak, um aliado de Israel e dos Estados Unidos.

Israel negou que Grapel, que emigrara de Nova York em 2005 e foi ferido como um paraquedista israelense na guerra do Líbano em 2006, era um espião. Suas ligações com Israel eram aparentes em sua página no Facebook, que continha fotos dele com o uniforme militar israelense.

Estudante de direito nos Estados Unidos, Grapel trabalhava para o Serviço de Refugiados de Saint Andrew, uma agência não-governamental, quando foi detido.

Os Estados Unidos, que concedem bilhões de dólares em ajuda militar ao Exército que agora dirige o Egito, haviam exigido a libertação de Grapel. Ele foi libertado três semanas depois que o secretário de Defesa dos EUA, Leon Panetta, visitou o Egito.

O acordo de troca mediado pelos EUA foi atingido pouco depois de um acordo diplomático mais amplo mediado pelo Egito entre Israel e o grupo islâmico Hamas que possibilitou a libertação do soldado israelense Gilad Shalit em troca de mais de 1.000 prisioneiros palestinos.

Eli Avidar, um ex-diplomata que chefiou a missão de Israel no Catar, afirmou que garantir a libertação de prisioneiros egípcios poderia ajudar os novos líderes do Cairo nacionalmente.

“O governo egípcio precisa disso para o seu prestígio”, disse ele na televisão israelense.

Israel é amplamente impopular no Egito, que assinou um tratado de paz com seu vizinho do norte em 1979.