MOSCOW, May 4 (RAPSI) – Representatives of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) have asked judges and investigators to limit the number of arrests due to overcrowding in detention centers, Kommersant newspaper reports on Wednesday.

“The Federal Penitentiary Service is trying very hard to contain the overcrowding. Every month we forward information on overcrowding to investigators and courts. We write about the cases where a person has already been sentenced but the sentence has not yet become active so the convict cannot be transferred to a penal colony. We write about the cases when an investigator sends a person to a detention center, but is not visiting that person for a long time,” the FSIN’s press-service told the newspaper.

According to the latest data, presented at a round table held in the Moscow Prosecutor's Office in April, Moscow detention centers are overcrowded by 47% in excess of their capacity.