MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI) – Yearly, about 200,000 convicts are being released from penitentiary facilities; the major question in the penitentiary practice is what they are to do after that, how they are to live, Deputy Head of the Department for Organizational and Analytical Support of the Directorate for Educational, Social, and Psychological Work of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Sergey Gudin said addressing participants of the All-Russian Conference on Resocialization and Adaptation of Convicted Citizens hosted by Russia’s Civic Chamber on Wednesday.

It is necessary to create in Russia conditions facilitating resocialization and adaptation of former convicts in order to prevent cases where they get behind bars again,the officer believes.

The main challenge is to prevent recidivism, Gudin stressed; the joint task is to help released convicts to adapt to their new lives and reintegrate into the society.

In order to prepare convicts for release from custody, the Federal Penitentiary Service has formed a register of social rehabilitation centers by Russia’s regions; currently more than one hundred of such centers are engaged in provision of housing for and settling of problems encountered by ex-convicts who lost their socially constructive relations. In turn, FSIN created more than 60,000 thematic video clips, Gudin said.