How I worked with prisoners - the story of a senior pre-trial detention center inspector

Previously, the colonies were called correctional labor colonies. Now the letter “T” has disappeared from the abbreviation, but convicts are still granted the right to work.

Many people unfamiliar with the realities of MLS, at the first mention of labor in the colony, remember the legendary lumberjacks and “shveyki” (sewing workshops). However, the choice of “prison” specialties is actually much wider, although not always and not everywhere.

What does an inspector do in a pre-trial detention center?

Work in a pre-trial detention center
My name is Oksana, I am 34 years old. I live in Ukraine, in Kyiv, and have been working in a pre-trial detention center since 2008. In total, my work experience is eight years. The position I work in, only the name is so presentable, but in essence the work is a typical warden of prisoners, already convicted or still under investigation. Female inspectors are assigned to guard female prisoners, as well as juvenile delinquents. Men are guarded, respectively, by male inspectors.

Professional Responsibilities

For uninterrupted operation, the institution has formed five shifts. Four shifts work 24 hours every other day (the guards themselves), the so-called “fifth shift” works five days a week, except Saturday and Sunday. The fifth shift is staffed by junior inspectors, whose responsibilities include:

• search of cells;
• search of prisoners arriving from prison or from leaving for trial;
• receiving and distributing transmissions;
• accompaniment for walks and to the bathhouse;
• escort from cells to investigative actions.

At the thief's stage - at the cook's zone

There is such an offensive prison saying: “In the thief’s stage, in the cook’s zone . It implies that kitchen staff are forced to cooperate with the administration of the institution.

Unlike the men who work in the industrial area, cooks, balancers, bakers, bread cutters and other kitchen employees are a household team. They live separately, of course they eat better, and have a number of other concessions, including such a valuable one as the opportunity to go to a separate, warm shower every day.

The most executed position in the canteen is the orderly. Cooperation with the administration is his direct job responsibility. He simply has to report what is happening to the head of the canteen, the head of the chemical security department and the deputy head of the institution for logistics support.

Of course, it’s one thing to report that lunch and dinner are ready and no violations have been found. And it’s quite another thing to “leak” your comrades to the authorities. But for the majority of convicts this line does not exist - it is too thin for their harsh worldview, which almost does not tolerate half measures.

The attitude towards kitchen workers in a colony depends on too many things. Somewhere they are loved and respected - for delicious food, an extra glass of milk, hard and daily (as opposed to the “wet days”, where there are days off) work from morning to night. Somewhere they openly despise you.

They really work a lot in the kitchen. They get up first - prepare and serve breakfast, feed the quarantine department. Accordingly, they go to bed later than everyone else - they need to wash the dishes and clean the dining room after dinner. Bakers, dough mixers and bread cutters work at night - imagine how much bread needs to be baked for a male colony.

Despite the different attitudes on the part of convicts, jobs in the canteen are considered warm, and sometimes downright criminal. Not only because it is closer to food, but also for greater opportunities for receiving incentives, much better prospects for parole.

How to get a job in a pre-trial detention center

Woman in prison
No special knowledge or skills are required when hiring. Education can be secondary or vocational. Higher education without a legal specialty does not play any role when hiring.

To get a job in the penitentiary system, in my case a pre-trial detention center, you need to go to the personnel department and fill out a bunch of forms. Questions of this type:

• why did you decide to work for the structure;
• previous places of work;
• last name, first name, patronymic of close relatives (brother, sister, father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter). Moreover, if one of them changed their last name, then this must be indicated.

Several non-disclosure documents are also signed. This applies to the location of buildings and cells on the territory of the detention center. After this, a referral is issued to your local clinic, where you undergo a general medical examination. You also need certificates from a narcologist and a psychologist.

After passing the medical examination, wait for the call. You usually have to wait one and a half to two weeks. This is how long it takes for a special check to be carried out on you and your close relatives. Then, if everything is fine and none of you has a criminal record, you are invited for an interview. I will say, however, that there was no interview, but they immediately gave me a referral for another medical examination, which I needed to undergo at the clinic of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It consists of two parts: an in-depth check of general health and psychological tests. Results are usually ready in two to three days. The clinic itself transfers them to the personnel department of the pre-trial detention center. You get a call from the HR department again and are invited to work.

Who is a prison guard?

It would seem that, given such complexity, work as a supervisor should not attract anyone. However, a competition is held for each vacant position, since there are not so few applicants.

There are 2 positions of guards in prison - corps and exit . Outside guards are required to perform their duties in all weather conditions, such as standing on a guard tower and monitoring the movement of prisoners in the courtyard. Some guards conduct surveillance using security cameras and electronic security equipment. It is worth noting that a trained employee of the penal system, who worked with people every day and dealt with practical situations, is highly valued.

• control over prisoners;
• preventing legal violations among them;
• riot prevention;
• recording of committed violations.

My first working day in the pre-trial detention center

SIZO
On the first day of work, the head of the OK issues a temporary pass to a closed area and takes you to meet the head and deputy. This is a mandatory procedure for starting work. Subsequently, over many years of work, you will see these people only briefly, provided that you do not pull out some stunning trick and do not end up “on the carpet”. Minor offenses are dealt with by the shift supervisor, and more serious offenses are dealt with by the shift supervisor.

The introduction takes place as follows: you are asked why you came to work here, are you afraid of weapons, and are you aware of the penalties for violating the regulations. You mutter something indistinctly, since no one is listening to your answers, and leave the office under the parting words: “Go to work.”

Main principles of working with prisoners

For the first three shifts, you are an intern. It’s just called differently – uncertified. You are not put on a shift alone, but with a mentor who tells and shows everything in detail.

My mentor, a seasoned woman, told me the basic, main principles of work. The most important thing is never, under any circumstances, turn your back on prisoners . She also showed where the hidden alarm points were, gave out a magnet, which in case of critical situations should be applied to the alarm point, and taught how to open the camera with keys.

All. The rest, he says, is in progress. All three shifts (three days) I learned to do simple work: in the morning, count prisoners when accepting a shift, during the day - release and launch, control the distribution of food and packages, in the evening, “reduce the balance” - “minus” those who did not return from the meeting court or went to a colony. At night, the keys to the cells are taken by the guard. This is the name of our immediate boss, who is both our mother and father. Why? Because there are a lot of “failures” at such work. And he “excuses” us, the younger ones, in front of the authorities.

Certification

On the fourth day of work - certification. The head of the personnel department collects all the newcomers and takes them to the State Department's Office for the Execution of Punishments. There were three of us. Everyone was taken in turn to different offices, where important guys asked the same questions: “What attracts you to this work?” And we heard the traditional answer: “Attracted by stability, social package, etc.”

Then they asked me to take a photo for my ID and wait for a decision. Two hours later we were informed that we had been certified and could begin service with the rank of junior sergeant. So, in the new rank, in the uniform that was issued after certification, I began to fulfill my duties.

The work of a prison guard: bonuses, prospects and fears

In addition, there are our own free departmental hospitals, children’s health camps, sanatoriums, a guaranteed place in a kindergarten or school at the place of residence on preferential terms. A prison guard's vacation is also longer than the rest - at least 30 days, and as he gains experience it increases to 45.

Personnel for correctional institutions are trained by specialized educational institutions - universities in Ryazan, Vologda, Vladimir, Samara, Novokuznetsk, Pskov, Perm and Voronezh. Each of them has their own specialization: graduates of the Voronezh Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia become engineers, and in Ryazan and Vladimir they graduate from operational units; they often work with special forces in colonies.

Salary data is open; the officer’s salary is about 36 thousand rubles.

But in fact, the salary can be much higher due to an increase in rank, for length of service, special working conditions, for example, in the north, for working with information constituting state secrets, as well as for special achievements in service and impeccable work. Whether the standards are met depends on the employee of the penitentiary system. But I will say this: if you act according to the law, then the special contingent will respect you and fulfill your requirements. Of course, there are different employees and they all work differently. After all, the penal system has about a thousand institutions throughout Russia.

Someone might be rude. But in most cases they address you as “you”, respectfully. The standards for relations between prison staff and prisoners are established by order of the Federal Penitentiary Service and the internal regulations of the correctional institution or pre-trial detention center itself. How can a girl get a job in a correctional colony? This is a code of ethics and professional behavior that must be followed, even if someone is trying to deliberately piss off.

Daily routine of a pre-trial detention center inspector

The working day begins at eight in the morning with a divorce. A breakup is a planning meeting where the shift stands lined up in two lines, and the shift supervisor gives clear instructions. The inspector will only find out which post to go to in the morning. Next, you come to the post and the shift change begins. You are given a special document by which you check the presence of all prisoners in their cells. Then a corps soldier comes (they can only be men), and a round is made with him. Each cell is opened one by one, the prisoners are lined up, a guard comes in and listens to all their wishes. Someone needs to see a doctor, someone has a broken bunk (bed), requests to fix the washbasin and the like.

Abandoned prison

Then the whole day passes in the bustle of work. The guards come and take prisoners for investigative actions or for trips to court. In order for the inspector to release a person from the cell, the guard presents him with a document with the prisoner’s name, signature and seal of the institution. The document remains with the inspector until the prisoner arrives in the cell. If the person was not brought in, then during the evening reconciliation this document is attached to the cell card and given to the corps officer.

At ten in the evening the lights out are announced and the prisoners must go to bed, but, as a rule, this does not happen. For them, life just begins at night. They shout to each other and pass notes and other things to each other using ropes (in their jargon - “roads”, “horses”). The inspector is not allowed to sleep at night. But we manage to sleep.

At six in the morning - rise. At seven, breakfast is delivered, which is distributed through “feeding troughs” to the prisoner workers who remain to serve their sentence in the isolation ward. Then it’s a shift change and you can go home.

Employment for people with previous convictions

Try offering the employer to work for a probationary period for less money, maybe someone will agree.

All you have to do is “adjust” your job search tactics to the circumstances that take place. And they are such that the majority are in no hurry to hire people with criminal records, and this is quite understandable.

Then keep quiet about the murder, come up with an “easier” article, but not related to theft. How to write an application for a job in the police? For example, that both times you were sentenced for fighting. If the conviction is not for theft, it is probably easier than if it is for such. For many people, those who have been convicted are lepers; they are immediately “dismissed” without even understanding what’s what. And if at an interview they hear the word “convicted”, the matter will not even come to clarifying the question of the reasons. And if they hear that it’s “for MURDER.”

And the fact that he killed in a fight was accidental, and the instigator of the fight was the one who was killed - this will be of least interest to the employer.

Balanders - between a rock and a hard place

Convicts from the economic detachment are the same prisoners. Our own people in the corridor of the pre-trial detention center (