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Situation in Sverdlovsk region prison stable after disobedience action - FSIN

It is not the first disobedience action in Ural prisons

YEKATERINBURG, May 30 (Itar-Tass) - The situation at maximum security penitentiary # 46 /IK-46/ located in town of Nevyansk, Sverdlovsk region, where inmates staged a disobedience action earlier on Thursday, remains stable, spokesman for the regional department of the Federal Penitentiary Service /FSIN/ Alexander Levchenko told Itar-Tass.

"A representative of the regional ombudsman has arrived at the penitentiary. FSIN officials, prosecutors and rights activists are continuing their work," Levchenko said.

Police cordoned off the penitentiary, regional police spokesman Valery Gorelykh told Tass.

"To maintain order and avoid provocation and recurrence of the Kopeisk incident, Nevyansk police units have been placed along the perimeter of the facility until the conflict is resolved," Gorelykh underlined.

Earlier reports said a group of inmates refused to go to the mess hall for breakfast. They had placed a video address on the website of the regional observer commission, claiming a violation of their rights.

Sverdlovsk region public observer commission member Vyacheslav Bashkov said the disobedience action had started because of an act of violence committed by prison personnel and prison "activists."

It is not the first disobedience action in Ural prisons. On November 24, 2012, a group of 500 inmates in the prison located in the town of Kopeisk, refused to obey the administration's demands insisting on easing the regulations. Investigators said unidentified persons armed themselves with metal pipes, sticks and stones, and staged riots near the prison where they offered armed resistance to special task force police.

Several criminal cases over the riot were opened. Criminal proceedings against prison chief Denis Mekhanov were opened as well. The investigator said Mekhanov had repeatedly ordered his subordinates to collect fees from inmates, and that it was the main reason behind the protest. Hundreds of statements were taken from inmates who had claimed extortion of 5,000 to 90,000 roubles under the threat of creating "unfavorable prison conditions."