Experts have discovered illegal purchases of straitjackets in Russian boarding schools

Psychoneurological boarding schools continue to use illegal methods of forced fixation of people, while openly purchasing straitjackets, the use of which is prohibited in the PSNI, said Alexander Gaganov, lawyer for the Region of Care project of the Popular Front, on October 2.

"When visiting boarding schools, we saw people fixed with sheets, children completely immobilized with their legs tied. This is not only illegal, but also inhumane. And some stumps don't hesitate to openly purchase special straitjackets and sets of safety belts," he told Izvestia.

In particular, the Derbetovsky Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation and Habilitation Center for Disabled Children Dobry Ruki (Stavropol Territory) recently purchased 14 children's straitjackets, Pokrovsky STUMPS (Primorsky Territory) purchased 10 straitjackets in 2023.

"If purchased straitjackets are used, it grossly violates a whole range of citizens' rights, which should interest not only human rights NGOs, but also the prosecutor's office," the lawyer noted.

He noted that bondage and the use of straitjackets are allowed in certain situations under the law on psychiatric care, but only for people who are forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital. However, a PSNI is not a hospital, and involuntary placement in a boarding school is not provided for by law.

Read more about how the freedoms of residents are restricted in the Russian STUMPS in the Izvestia article.

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