The reader said the literature was gathered both from the prison library and from the personal possessions of inmates, according to Fontanka. Only the Bible and Russian classics were permitted to stay, the reader told the outlet.
The Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region said prisons are conducting a scheduled monthly audit of library holdings and books belonging to convicts. The agency said the check is carried out in accordance with Russian law and the Justice Ministry's federal list of extremist materials.
According to the press service, inspectors also check for the absence of publications promoting a cult of violence and criminal subculture, as well as books containing instructions for making prohibited items and substances.
Personal literature that is not on the extremist list but failed the check is not destroyed, according to Federal Penitentiary Service representatives. It is handed over to relatives or kept among the convict's belongings until release. Only worn-out library books and publications from the federal extremist list may be destroyed, the agency said. Works by foreign authors and Russian classics, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, remain in the holdings and are issued to inmates under established rules.
In early September, Kommersant reported that the Digital Development Ministry is looking for a way to preserve books by "foreign agents" and "undesirable organizations" published before those entities received that status in libraries and stores. According to the ministry's estimate, literal enforcement of the laws could cost municipal libraries up to 50-70% of their holdings and research libraries 10-15%.