Between Autonomy and Dependency: Medical Professionals in the Modern Russian Penal System

Abstract

In Russian prisons, the issue of the quality of healthcare relates to the position of doctors within the penal system. Doctors are subordinated to the Ministry of Justice in which the prison service is also located, and not to the Ministry of Health. In 2014, as a result of reform to the prison system, prison medical personnel ceased to be subject to the authority of the prisons in which they worked. However, in practice the autonomization of prison service medical professionals has not happened. The purpose of this study is to explore this contradiction and clearly delineate the position of medical professionals in Russian prisons through the application of theoretical concepts of professional autonomy and dual loyalty to qualitative data collected from those inside the system.