Number of convicts drops to 575,000 in Russia for the first time in contemporary history

MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) – Some 600,000 people are currently serving prison time in Russia, Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said.

“For the first time in at last 20 years, in the entire contemporary history of the Russian Federation, the number of people serving their sentences in prisons and penal colonies, i.e., people convicted to isolation, has dropped to at least 600,000 people,” Konovalov told the Russian government on Thursday.

“The latest figure is 575,000 people,” he said.

“Another 113,000 people are in investigative facilities under arrest and are awaiting trial, and 469,000 are registered with criminal enforcement inspectorates,” the minister said.