Recruitment from Prisons and the Current Situation
Anton Chorny, an instructor and recruiter for the 'Shkval' battalion (59th Brigade), has revealed that efforts to form specialized units within Ukraine's Armed Forces (ZSU) from the prison population are being hampered. According to Chorny, who spoke on political analyst Yuriy Romanenko's broadcast, the administrations of these correctional colonies are reluctant to release eligible men for military service.
Chorny cited Colony No. 35 in the city of Bila Tserkva as a prime example of this obstruction. He emphasized that the state has set no official limits on how many volunteers can be recruited from a single institution. The primary criteria for mobilization remain unchanged:
- Successful completion of the military medical commission (VLC);
- Compliance with all legal requirements.
'The first and foremost problem is that the prison administrations themselves are, to put it mildly, not interested in having normal inmates—normal in the sense of having hands, legs, and some level of health—leave the correctional colony,' stated Anton Chorny.
He further highlighted a significant conflict between the recruiters' need for personnel and the prison officials' desire to retain them. 'We are, roughly speaking, very interested in having people. But the administration itself is not particularly interested in people leaving the colony,' he added.
Chorny also pointed out the lack of clear guidelines on how many individuals can be recruited from a specific colony, leaving the question unresolved. This situation underscores the practical difficulties recruiters face in enlisting prisoners for the ZSU, despite the absence of formal restrictions.
The struggle to recruit inmates points to a complex dynamic between military structures and the penal system. It suggests a need to reassess recruitment approaches to ensure more effective mobilization. This issue also reflects broader questions about reforming the penitentiary system and its impact on national defense during wartime. The mobilization of prisoners has been a contentious measure for Ukraine, aimed at bolstering troop numbers while offering sentence commutation to volunteers.