25 February 2003
Twenty inmates in Brest's jail entitled to vote in local elections
Twenty out of the 350 individuals held in the pretrial detention center in Brest will have the right to vote in the March 2 local elections, Nikolai
Sukhodolsky, the center's deputy chief, told BelaPAN.
Entitled to vote are only the Belarusians who serve arrest sentences for a minor civil offense, he explained. The jail administration has already submitted the list of voters to the election commission of Precinct No. 17 in whose area the institution is located. On March 2, the 20
prisoners will be visited by members of the local election commission who will bring a ballot box. The room where inmates usually meet with their lawyers will serve as a booth.
The convicts received campaigning leaflets of the two candidates who compete for seats in the Brest City Soviet and of the four running for the Regional Soviet in the electoral district from the election commission members. The candidates, however, have not made use of their right
to meet with the voters in the detention center. The facility currently confines 350 inmates, whereas its capacity limit is 210. Beds are placed in three tiers, while no more than two are allowed by sanitary
requirements. The oldest inmate is 65, the youngest 14.
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