Penza, 13 February 2016. PenzaNews. The information included in the February 10 press release distributed by the Penza region prosecutor’s office, dedicated to violations in the detention center for the underage, is not provided in full, which can create an image of the center’s activities that does not reflect the true situation, says the reaction article the regional Ministry of the Interior Department published on its official website.

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“In particular, one of the cases branded by the press release as a serious violation is when a teenager detained for an administrative violation – drunk and disorderly behavior – was held in the detention center for several hours more than the term outlined by the law. However, they did not mention that the detention center staff have been seeking out lawful representatives of the teenager in question throughout the whole term of detention. We found out that his father, being the teenager’s only lawful representative, was outside the Penza region and could not pick up his son from the center in due time. Because of that, the father picked up the son only after the detention period has run out,” the article says.

Moreover, as it points out, the list of violations by the prosecutor’s office includes the absence of psychiatric evaluations on detained teenagers in their personal files.

“However, there is no mention that most of the teenagers that lacked such evaluations mostly had spent only several hours in the detention center, while it takes 5-7 days to conduct psychiatric analysis and create a psychiatric evaluation,” the response explains.

Moreover, it adds, the prosecutor’s office also brands the lacks of bedside tables and chairs in sleeping rooms as a violation, omitting the fact that this furniture is not required and may constitute a danger of further law violations by the teenagers.

“The Penza region Ministry of the Interior department is taking prompt steps to react on each case of nondisciplinary and illegal conduct by the internal services staff. At the same time, the department does everything to ensure the police staff in the Penza region are not unreasonably accused of actions that do not constitute violations,” the official reaction stresses.