Prisons in Kazakhstan

The overall system

The Kazakh prison system holds about 33,000 inmates (as of 2023/2024) — after a massive decline since 2000 (over 500 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants back then, around 163 today). The detention facilities are administered by the Committee of the Penal System of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (KUIS). In material terms, however, the structural problems of the Soviet era persist.

The AK-159 complex in Karaganda

The Karaganda prison complex (official facility designation AK-159, comprising several individual facilities, including AK-159/7 in Dolinka) is the largest and historically most significant prison hub in Kazakhstan. It is a legacy of the Soviet GULAG system (KARLAG). Its structural deficiencies range from overcrowding and inadequate medical care to documented allegations of torture.

SI-1 Almaty and the Qantar 2022 connection

SI-1 Almaty (Sledstvenny Izolyator, Pre-Trial Detention Center 1) was a central site of the mass arrests following the January 2022 uprising (Qantar Oqyğasy). Reports by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the KIBHR (Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law) document allegations of torture and systematic ill-treatment in the weeks after these events.

CAT Concluding Observations 2023

In its Concluding Observations of June 2023 (CAT/C/KAZ/CO/4) on Kazakhstan, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) found a structural torture problem, a lack of independent investigations, and inadequate prosecution of perpetrators from within the security apparatus. These findings are to be used in German extradition proceedings as the factual basis for the risk assessment under Article 3 ECHR.

← Back to the glossary index