Rehabilitation of Convicts in the Mechanism of Ensuring Their Right to a Decent Life After Serving a Sentence

Abstract

International law standards of building a social state and guaranteeing each person a decent life make it necessary to develop, at the level of Russian legislation, an institute of social support for low-income ex-convicts as part of the program of their social rehabilitation after release from a penal institution. The author analyzes the essence of social rehabilitation as a legal institution, the evolution of legal regulation of social rehabilitation methods in the Russian penitentiary practice. The institute of social rehabilitation of convicts released after serving their sentences is inter-agency in its essence; it is aimed at the identification and solution of the whole complex of social and economic problems of those inmates who potentially fall into the category of the poor (or who could become low-income citizens after release). It is also aimed at providing not only psychological, but also material social support to ensure their right to a decent life, reduce their risk of falling into the category of low-income (poor) people and help their overall social adaptation after release. The effectiveness of social rehabilitation measures determines if a convict chooses the law-abiding or the criminal model of behavior after release, determines their legal consciousness and, in the end, influences the level of repeat crimes. The author singles out and analyzes the contents of social rehabilitation of ex-convicts after release from places of confinement. In the context of ensuring the right of a convict to a decent life after serving a sentence, the author pays special attention to such a component of social rehabilitation as assistance in finding employment and housing in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the normative acts of the penitentiary system. The meaning of the term «social» in the collocation «social rehabilitation of convicts» is analyzed in its modern and historical aspect. The author shows the necessity of establishing an efficient state-controlled public system of social rehabilitation for persons who are released from places of incarceration in Russia. He also identifies key directions for improving the effectiveness of the penitentiary system by taking into account the humanistic values of the socio-cultural environment and the principles of international law norms when providing social support to low-income citizens who are in conflict with criminal law, as well as by overcoming their poverty and a negative attitude to them. The author presents arguments to prove the practical value of introducing new forms and methods of correctional influence on convicts that are alternative to criminal procedure coercion, of widening the scope of additional social, psychological and educational work with convicts in penitentiary legislation with the purpose of providing social rehabilitation for convicts and ensuring their right to a decent life after serving the sentence.