Instead of restricting the guards' use of force, the bill prompts prison colony employees to hit inmates for any violations of the regime for instance, for failing to greet [a guard] or for sitting on a bed, leader of the For Human Rights movement Lev Ponomaryov said in his blog on the Ekho Moskvy website this summer, after the bill was introduced.
The bill lists weapons and other means that guards can use including special batons, special gas means, electric and flashlight shockers, water cannons and dogs. In the absence of weapons, guards may use any available means, the bill says.
The bill also stipulates where on inmate's body a guard may or may not target for beating: It is unacceptable to inflict blows with a special baton on a person's head, neck, collarbone region, stomach, genitalia, the region of the heart, the document reads.
Prison guards would be exempt from penalties if they injure an inmate or other persons while following the bill's regulations on the use of force, the document says.
