Putin recalls a prison hospital pulling teeth without anesthesia, calls for better human rights policing

In a speech to an assembly of Attorney General officials, Vladimir Putin warned that Russian prisons have failed to prevent far too many human rights violations in recent years.

In particular, the Russian president recalled a visit several years ago to a jail in St. Petersburg, where he says the healthcare facilities were in disrepair. “They were pulling teeth without anesthesia. Huh? What century do we live in? I hope we won't see anything like this today,” Putin said in his remarks, calling on police, prison officials, and human rights workers to monitor conditions carefully, in order to ensure modern living standards and adequate medical treatment for inmates.

According to the BBC's Russian service, Putin also told the assembly that the Attorney General recorded 3.2 million human rights crimes last year—more than 60 percent of all the crimes reported in Russia, the president said.