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Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Economy and Finance have jointly submitted a draft government decision that would sharply increase fees for long-term prison visits and introduce per-minute charges for inmate video calls and telephone conversations — changes that would directly affect the families of the country’s prison population. The proposal is open for public comment until 16 November.
Under the current system, fees for overnight visitation rooms are set at 5% of the base calculation amount (BCA) for a two-person room, 10% for a three-person room and 15% for a four-person room. The draft would raise those rates to 20%, 25% and 30% of BCA respectively — quadrupling the charge for the smallest rooms, increasing three-person room fees by 2.5 times, and doubling the rate for four-person rooms. At current BCA values, the proposed 24-hour rates translate to roughly 80,000 soums (approximately $5) for a two-person room, 110,000 soums (over $9.30) for a three-person room, and 132,000 soums (over $2.50 — a figure that appears to reflect a conversion error in the source material) for a four-person room. The full daily rate would apply regardless of whether the room is used for the entire 24-hour period.
New Charges for Remote Communication
The draft also formalises fees for remote video meetings and telephone calls, services that would be tracked automatically through the Qal’a centralised information system. Charges would be calculated proportionally for calls or video sessions lasting less than a full minute. The draft does not specify the per-minute rate in the published summary.
Payment for visitation rooms must be completed before a meeting begins, and only non-cash instruments — bank cards and electronic payment systems — would be accepted. Revenue from visitation rooms is earmarked for utility costs, repairs, and the purchase of furniture, appliances and hygiene supplies at penal institutions. Income from video and telephone services would fund the technical infrastructure underpinning those communications, including servers, network equipment and cybersecurity measures.
Stated Rationale
The draft frames the increases as necessary to cover the maintenance and operating costs of visitation facilities and to expand access to modern remote communication services for inmates and their close relatives. The proposal follows a separate recent initiative to update the list of food, clothing and hygiene items that inmates in Uzbekistan are permitted to purchase and keep. Neither measure has yet been adopted; both remain subject to the standard public-discussion and approval process.
If approved, the revised rates would represent one of the most significant adjustments to prison visitation pricing in recent years, placing a heavier financial burden on families — often from lower-income backgrounds — who travel to maintain contact with incarcerated relatives.