At the end of last year in Russia there was again talk of returning the death penalty. The reason was the tragedy in Saratov, where a previously convicted local resident killed a nine-year-old girl and almost became a victim of lynching. According to polls, the return of exceptional punishment is supported by 49 to 52 percent of Russians, and this number is gradually growing every year. Lenta.ru visited two Russian colonies where prisoners sentenced to death are now being held, whose executions were commuted to life sentences, and found out what the prisoners themselves and their guards think about the return of capital punishment.
Video: Igor Nadezhdin, Maria Frolova, Valeria Mosienko, Yana Chernyak
“I decree to have mercy”
In 1999, President Yeltsin immediately pardoned all those sentenced to death. The text of presidential decree No. 698 of June 3, 1999 is very simple, if not primitive. First, the plot: “Guided by the principles of humanity, I decide to pardon...” And then the numbers, names of those sentenced with years of birth, dates and places of sentencing - and most importantly, the words:
“Replace the death penalty with life imprisonment.”
The decree itself has never been published - it is marked “for official use”. According to some reports, he pardoned 703 people - all who at that moment in Russia were sentenced to an exceptional punishment - execution. In total, in the period from 1993 to 1999, as reported to Lenta.ru in the Administration of the President of Russia, the head of state pardoned 1,153 people sentenced to death: 837 of them were commuted from execution to life imprisonment, 268 to 25 years, and 48 - 15 years in a special regime colony.
Photo: Maria Frolova
Strange as it may seem, several dozen of those pardoned went to court demanding that the Decree be declared illegal (many more than once). Some motivated this by the fact that life imprisonment is a much more severe punishment than execution. Others - because they did not apply for a pardon, and thus the Decree - grossly violates their civil rights (indeed, according to the law, only someone who has applied for a corresponding petition and fully admitted his guilt can be pardoned).
None of the requests were ever granted. The courts in their decisions indicate that the President of Russia, by virtue of the law, has the right to independently make a decision on mitigation of punishment, and replacing the death penalty with imprisonment is, of course, a humane act. In addition, one cannot ignore the fact that on April 16, 1997, the Russian Federation signed Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms regarding the abolition of the death penalty in peacetime (although it was never ratified).
And international agreements (according to the Constitution in force both then and today) prevail over state laws. In addition, there are several decisions of both the plenum of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, which determine that the right to life is inalienable, and the death penalty itself contradicts this right.
However, the term “death penalty” is still present in Russian legislation. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has a separate article number 59, which is called that, and in the Criminal Executive Code there is an entire section VII “Execution of the death penalty,” which consists of only one chapter No. 23 with the same name. And, frankly, they are not going anywhere - even in world practice we are talking about the abolition of the death penalty exclusively in peacetime: any state believes that executions should remain during war.
Zones of no return
Today, the death penalty is used in 71 countries, most often in China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. However, according to many lawyers, its effectiveness raises serious doubts: the number of crimes in these countries is not decreasing.
In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the death penalty is used as a punishment in five articles. This is part 2 of Article 105 (“Murder under aggravating circumstances”), Article 277 (“Encroachment on the life of a state or public figure”), Article 295 (“Encroachment on the life of a person carrying out justice or preliminary investigation”), Article 317 (“Encroachment for the life of a law enforcement officer") and Article 357 (“Genocide”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Such sentences can be made solely on the basis of the jury's verdict - and nothing else.
Serving a life sentence Alexander Zubarev (left) in the Torbeevsky Central
Photo: Maria Frolova
As of March 20, 2021, 1,993 people are serving life imprisonment in Russia, including those sentenced to death and later pardoned. By law, they have the right to apply for parole for the first time after 25 years - and there are already almost 300 of them.
But so far not a single court has granted their petitions. In general, in the entire history of modern Russia, only five people who were sentenced to death by the court of first instance were released: in appeal or cassation, their death penalty was commuted to a long term, but not a life sentence.
Article 59 (“Death penalty”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The death penalty as an exceptional measure of punishment can be established only for especially serious crimes that encroach on life. 2. The death penalty is not imposed on women, as well as persons who committed crimes under the age of eighteen, and men who have reached the age of sixty-five by the time the court pronounces the sentence. 2.1. The death penalty is not imposed on a person extradited to the Russian Federation by a foreign state for criminal prosecution in accordance with an international treaty of the Russian Federation or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, if, in accordance with the legislation of the foreign state that extradited the person, the death penalty is not provided for the crime committed by this person or the death penalty is not applied execution is a condition of extradition, or the death penalty cannot be imposed on him for other reasons. 3. The death penalty by way of pardon may be replaced by life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of twenty-five years.
A very important fact: of these five, at least one, after his release, again committed a serious crime and is currently on trial. This is Gennady Tebenkov, sentenced to death in 1993 for escaping from a colony and killing a random woman.
In April 1993, he was pardoned by the president: the execution was replaced by 25 years in prison. In 2021, Tebenkov was released on parole after serving one year, one month and 19 days. Upon his release, he lived law-abidingly for three years - but on August 4, 2021, he met a seven-year-old girl on the street, abused her, and is now back in the dock.
In Russia, a life-sentenced person was released for the first time
A person sentenced to death was released from the Polar Owl colony for the first time in history
For the first time in its history, a prisoner was released from the most terrible prison for life prisoners, “Polar Owl” (located beyond the Arctic Circle, in the village of Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug).
He is actually the only one of the lifers who received a ticket to freedom. And now Anvar Masalimov, once sentenced to death for a brutal murder, is walking among us - according to the latest data, in Moscow.
The Federal Penitentiary Service believes that formally this is not parole, but the result of a requalification of the sentence (although some court documents indicate parole).
Be that as it may, a precedent has been created. The first swallow, so to speak. A man who once escaped the death penalty was released. In general, recently the number of people sentenced to life imprisonment, who can apply for parole because they have served 25 years, is rapidly approaching not even a hundred, but half a thousand. What will happen if the courts begin to release them en masse? Do former maniacs, pedophiles and serial killers adapt to modern reality? Won't they take up the old ways?
The first of the doomed
63-year-old Anvar Masalimov hardly understands how lucky he is. No one had ever been released from a colony for life sentences (those sentenced to life imprisonment). I would like to tell a touching story that Anwar himself was initially innocent of anything. Or that everything happened by accident, and the punishment was excessively cruel. But this is not true at all.
“On August 17, 1991, he brutally killed a man,” says Larisa Novolodskaya, a representative of the Vologda Regional Court. “It all happened in a private house in the village of Komsomolsk, Tomsk region.
A lonely and kind-hearted pensioner, Gavrilov allowed the recently released prisoner Masalimov not only into his home, but into his life in general. He was not embarrassed by the fact that Anwar served time not for a petty crime, but for murder (the first time he received 15 years).
Once free, Masalimov got a job as a loader. Apparently, he introduced Gavrilov to alcohol, and they often began to drink together. But no matter how much you feed the wolf... One evening Masalimov strangled Gavrilov.
“With the help of an ax, he dismembered the corpse, burned the head in the stove, and threw parts of the body into a cesspool,” says Novolodskaya.
If it weren’t for the neighbor who found meat in the toilet, no one would have known about Gavrilov’s death: Masalimov told everyone that he had “left to make money.” Anwar's guilt was completely proven.
I am studying the materials of a criminal case from 27 years ago. It is clear from the documents that Masalimov partially admitted his guilt. He explained at the trial: they say that Gavrilov burned his photographs in the stove, which made him very angry. “I hit him in the face, he fell, smashing his head on the stove jamb.” Masalimov assures that he tried to help Gavrilov, but he was no longer breathing and his pulse could not be felt. Well, he dismembered the corpse in order to hide his traces and again not end up in prison, from which he had only left six months ago.
Forensic experts refuted Masalimov's words - they found a fracture of the victim's hyoid bone, which indicated that death occurred from compression of the throat, and not from a blow.
In general, taking into account the fact that the murder was the second and was committed while intoxicated, the court came to the conclusion - I quote: “Masalimov should be recognized as a particularly dangerous repeat offender and imposed the death penalty.” He waited for execution for several years, and only in 1998, President Boris Yeltsin, by decree, replaced the death penalty with a life sentence.
At first, Masalimov was imprisoned in the Vologda Pyatak colony for life prisoners, then he was transferred to the Polar Owl. All this time he wrote complaints to the court. As a result, the indications that the convict was recognized as a particularly dangerous repeat offender and the aggravating circumstance of committing a crime while drunk were excluded from his sentence. The article has been re-qualified from Art. 102 at station 103 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. But the punishment itself did not change - the term remained lifelong.
“By reclassifying Masalimov’s actions without mitigating the sentence, the court proceeded from the fact that life imprisonment was not imposed as a sentence, but as a pardon by presidential decree,” says Novolodskaya. — That is, its review does not seem to fall within the competence of the court (this follows from the judicial practice that was formed at the time the ruling was made in relation to Masalimov - April 11, 1998). But everything is changing. And so the presidium of the Vologda Regional Court admitted: it is possible to mitigate the punishment. He released Masalimov from further serving his sentence with the wording “in connection with the adoption of a law improving the situation of the convicted person.”
The certificate included in the case (copy from MK) states that Masalimov was released on parole. This is where the talk started: “The first of the doomed is forgiven.”
How a prisoner became a monk
Recently, the security agencies have held several meetings to discuss the situation with Masalimov. We talked to the discussion participants.
- What if this “first sign” is followed by a whole “flock” of prisoners? - says one of the generals of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (he asked not to indicate his last name). — Will the maniacs and pedophiles who were never executed during Soviet times be released now? And what will they do? They have lost their sense of reality over these decades!
Despite all this, the general was still unable to answer my simple question: what happened to Masalimov? Where is he now? How is life and health? It turned out that no one established administrative supervision over him, his traces were lost. The colony’s certificate only contains the following indication: “Left out to the address: Moscow, st. General Dorokhov, 17.”
“He’s from Kazan himself,” says former Polar Owl operative Yuri Sandrykin. “He still has a sister there.” He signed over all his property to her and refused the inheritance, because he didn’t think that he would ever see freedom. So everyone believed that he would return to Kazan. And he moved to Moscow! In general, he told everyone that if he ever freed himself, he would become a monk. But in general, many prisoners in the colony say this. We don't really trust them. And don't believe it.
We go to Dorokhova Street. Oddly enough, the “monastic version” is indirectly confirmed: the Church of St. Dmitry of Rostov is located at this address.
“I remember, I remember him, he came,” says the church social worker. - Unsociable, didn’t want to communicate with anyone except Father Andrei. And he corresponded with him when Anvar was still in the colony. They write to us a lot from prisons for life-sentenced prisoners. We help them, send them things, money...
“I didn’t expect to see Masalimov in our church,” admits Father Andrei. - This is the providence of the Lord! I suggested that he become a novice and then a monk. Well, where else should he go? He is no longer young and is in poor health. Otherwise, he would have settled at the monastery, led a righteous life and prayed for the souls of the murdered. There would always be food and shelter. But unexpectedly for me, he flatly refused. He said that he wanted to hire lawyers to help him seek housing and compensation from the state for “overstaying his time.”
I was surprised. He said: “Why fight and seek justice now? We need to be reconciled with God and think about our souls.” We couldn’t leave him here: we have children here at the church, and there are no sleeping places. So we gave him some money for the first time, the address of a homeless shelter near the Nikolo-Perervensky Monastery, and drove him by car to the Kievsky railway station, as he asked (he then went from there to the shelter himself). I gave him the phone number to call if there were any problems. He never called.
Masalimov never made it to the shelter in Lublin (the priest sent him there). The duty officer of the institution said that a person with such data did not come to them. Officially, he is not listed in any of these establishments in Moscow. But in general, there are hundreds of frequent shelters in the city, where homeless people receive shelter and food for working.
Where is Masalimov? What about him? And most importantly, is it dangerous?
Army of suicide bombers
In Russia today there are 1,940 people sentenced to life imprisonment. About a quarter of them have served 25 years behind bars, which means they are legally entitled to parole. The first prisoners, whose sentence reached a quarter of a century, appeared in 2021. But everyone who applied for parole was denied by the court, and they can apply again only after three years. But every year there are more and more new prisoners who have reached that same 25-year sentence. They flood the courts with requests for parole. The first thing they do is ask the administration of the colony where the person spent a quarter of his life. Corrected? Dangerous? The heads of all penal colonies for life-sentenced prisoners give the same answer: it is not recommended for parole.
- Judge for yourself! During this time that he was in prison, the country has changed, the world has changed, says the Polar Owl employee. — Mobile phones, laptops, the Internet appeared, laws changed, the Criminal Code was almost completely rewritten. Clothing style, profession, people's habits - everything has become different! But ours are “frozen” in time. They sometimes watch TV and many things seem fantastic to them. They perceive plots from modern films about real life as if they were a Star Wars series.
“My employees and I have a firm conviction that nothing is ready yet for the release of these people,” says the head of the Vologda Pyatak, Vladimir Gorelov. “It is not stated under what conditions a convicted person can be released, or what requirements he must meet. In general, a set of measures should be developed (together with the public) to prepare for parole five years before the date when the court can ask for it. The candidate needs to be transferred to easier conditions of detention, so that he can live for several years not in a cell, but in a general detachment (as in ordinary colonies), to see how he is able to contact other people?
The second point: he must master several professions so that, upon release, he will be in demand as a worker. For five years (from 20 to 25 years of imprisonment) he must undergo something like an attestation commission, which will include human rights activists, doctors, sociologists, psychologists and which will say whether he is going the right way.
The third stage is understanding where he will live in freedom and with whom. And after he receives parole, he needs to be supervised for several years. And now all this is gone. The convict himself does not understand what he must do to be released on parole. And we, the employees, don’t understand. And therefore, on the administrative commission, no one votes for a recommendation to the court about parole for a particular prisoner. Because no one is ready to bear responsibility - primarily moral. What if he comes out and on the first day starts raping and killing women and children?!
Of course, there are those who cannot rob and kill due to their advanced age. The oldest “guest” of the Vologda Pyatak colony, Alexei Popkov, is 81 years old. In 1990, he was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and son while intoxicated (first, during a quarrel, he stabbed his wife, and then the child, who ran out screaming). He has been behind bars for 27 years. If we think sensibly, Popkov has not been convicted before, the crime was domestic, so he does not belong to the category of serial killers. After such a long imprisonment, such a person could be released. But where? Who needs it? Who will look after him? Now he is a sick old man, he hardly gets out of bed.
“He lies and lies, sometimes only I lift him to take him to the toilet,” explains the cellmate. — Did he write for parole? Hardly. He has nowhere to go.
No one writes to the oldest prisoner. However, like others who are 70 and older.
“But I have a home, I have relatives who are waiting,” assures 78-year-old Kazbek Kaloev. “But it’s useless to ask for parole—no one has ever been granted it.”
Kaloev received the right to parole back in 2009. Unlike Popkov, before his sentencing he had a rich criminal history, with four convictions. They say he is one of the first real Soviet bandits who have been robbing and killing since the 60s. Kaloyev received his last sentence because in 1978 his gang attacked a branch of the State Bank of the USSR. His criminal record includes an armed attack on the police department on duty in the Stavropol Territory, during which two policemen were killed. As he himself puts it, he spent four years “under the watchtower” (death penalty).
Kazbek was practically never free: everything was in prison camps and camps, and in between there were robberies and robberies. How would he adapt to free life now? It is clear that he would no longer be able to become a bandit due to his age and physical weakness. But what if I could teach this to the younger generation?.. In general, there are a lot of questions.
In general, over the years spent in captivity, people really become unneeded by their loved ones and lose all contact with them. Proof of this is the fact that when a lifer dies, his body is taken away by his relatives in isolated cases. And the same Kaloev admitted that he told home: in case of death, do not come, do not take the corpse.
“I didn’t think that I would even live to see such years,” says Kazbek.
“Life expectancy among lifers is very long,” says Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia Valery Maksimenko. — In regular colonies, convicts get sick much more often and die more often.
We have been trying to understand this phenomenon for a long time. There are several explanations. One of them is that in colonies for life-sentenced prisoners there is a strict schedule, the whole life goes strictly according to the schedule, and this, apparently, has a more beneficial effect on the body. Lifers do not have stress behind bars; they do not need to think about what will happen after release, how, where and with whom to live. Everything is decided for them, until the very end.
Here we must remember the Soviet military: often, when officers retired, they died almost immediately, because the routine for life changed and the body became unbalanced. This is also why many military personnel sought to remain in service for as long as possible, because sometimes they were even afraid to retire... But with life-sentence prisoners, it’s just the opposite: even the body, which is fairly worn out by the riotous lifestyle of a bandit, gets on strong and stable tracks, receives the correct diet and nutritional intake - precisely according to the clock, over the years it gets used to and adapts and continues to work almost without failures, to the surprise of everyone.
Over the past 10 years, 89 people have died due to illness and old age in colonies for life-sentenced prisoners. One of the most famous prisoners who died behind bars is the terrorist Salman Raduev. Prison doctors say that he essentially died from old wounds he received in freedom.
There are 76 disabled people among the prisoners, including four from the first group. Theoretically, some of them may well fall under government decree No. 54, which contains a list of diseases that prevent them from serving their sentences. But let’s say there is a maniac who has raped and killed more than ten children. Should he be released with the wording “due to illness”?!
Amazingly, the number of suicides among death row prisoners is many times lower than among ordinary prisoners. Over the past three years, there has been only one successful attempt - the incident occurred in the Polar Owl. All other lifers, it turns out, are afraid of death. This is another phenomenon. After all, what could be worse than an empty life, not filled with joys, new impressions, or loved ones? Many will object to me: life can be absolutely gray and empty even in freedom. This is true. And this is probably even sadder.
source mk.rу
Life of special regime
In Russia there are eight colonies for those sentenced to life imprisonment, where those sentenced to an exceptional measure of punishment - the death penalty - are also kept. Two of them are located in Mordovia: this is a special site in correctional colony No. 1 (IK-1, “Edinichka”) in the village of Sosnovka and IK No. 6 in the village of Torbeevo (“Torbeevsky Central”). The first holds 165 prisoners, killing 603 people. In the second - 134 convicts, who were responsible for 658 murders.
Convicts are kept in cells mostly in groups of two, and their partners are selected by psychologists so that there are no conflicts. After conviction, all those sentenced, without exception, turn to faith and read mainly religious and legal literature. Almost all of them are employed and work in clothing production.
But if prisoners in other colonies, even high-security ones, go to workshops, then for life-sentence prisoners there are special “labor” cells in the same buildings. And it turns out that for the entire period they see only a few people: their bunk neighbor, the guards, some correctional officers (medics, psychologists), as well as members of public monitoring commissions (POC) and psychological scientists who come to them for interviews.
A section for life-sentenced prisoners in the Mordovian “Edinichka”
Photo: Maria Frolova
The daily routine is almost ideal: getting up at six in the morning, toilet, exercises, a working day with a lunch break, then free time, including a walk in a special outdoor box, closed on four sides by blank walls, from where you can only see the sky and roofs No.
Prisoners undergo regular medical examinations. Their nutrition, by the way, was developed by the best nutritionists in the country and carefully verified - and dozens of inspectors monitor compliance with the standards. As a result, all convicts are physically well developed and every single one of them looks much younger than their age.
The attitude towards them is strictly formal: addressing them by first name and patronymic and “You”, scrupulously observing any rights, providing paper for complaints and letters upon request. True, they are under surveillance by video cameras 24 hours a day.
Employees treat each convicted person not as a criminal, but as a person. There is such a psychological barrier here: the employee is simply obliged to fulfill his duties, his safety functions, and first of all himself. And there is no opportunity to be distracted by the attitude towards the convicted person.
Sergey SimakovColonel of internal service, head of IK-6 ("Torbeevsky
Contrary to popular belief, life-sentence prisoners are no longer driven in the “swallow” pose: human rights activists considered that this demeans the dignity of those sentenced, and now all those sentenced to life imprisonment walk “like everyone else.” The only external difference from other convicts is a circle on the chest with the letters “PZ”. Nothing else.
But this is external.
Many of the convicted were abandoned by their families; their wives filed for divorce even before the verdict. All relatives stopped communicating with someone. People experience a huge lack of communication - it’s good if they have someone to correspond with, but this can only be done with employees, psychologists and cellmates with whom they have been sitting for years.
Tatyana AlyakshinaHead of psychological service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Republic of Mordovia
According to psychologists, the religiosity of those sentenced to life is mostly ostentatious. As Lieutenant Colonel Alyakshina explains, only ten percent of all prisoners sincerely turned to faith. The rest, although they interpret the Bible, the Koran or the Torah for hours and can recite volumes of sacred scriptures by heart, but all this is for show. There is hope in the convicts, and they understand that only good characteristics give a chance.
That's why they talk about religion - hoping to make the FSIN employees believe it, who will sign their characteristics for the parole court. And, besides, many enter into correspondence with priests - after all, the rest have turned away from them.
The head of IK-6, Sergei Simakov, notes that many convicts declare their desire to go to a monastery if released - but this is rather complacency. People have spent 25-30 years in strictly limited conditions of a colony; they have absolutely no idea how the world has changed, and many do not even imagine the full depth of the changes.
Lifers have radios in their cells, and they listen to the radio, especially music and news. Some even have televisions that you can watch in your free time. Anyone has the right (and many people use this right) to subscribe to newspapers and magazines.
Of course, sometimes conflicts arise between neighbors, mainly due to divergent views on events taking place in the country. Prisoners are kept up to date with all the latest news. Sometimes they quarrel on domestic grounds or over parcels - when one was sent something, but the other was not, and he does not want to share. But there are no serious conflicts - primarily because the convicts themselves understand: it is impossible to live in conditions of conflict. And so they restrain themselves.
Tatyana AlyakshinaHead of psychological service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Republic of Mordovia
According to Alyakshina, among those sentenced to extreme punishment, a maximum of 10-15 percent are mentally intact. The reason is clear - these people waited for years to be shot, and then resigned themselves to the indefiniteness of their punishment. During this time, everyone experienced global internal changes: at first, almost all “lifers” behaved aggressively towards others, many noted suicidal tendencies, but after two or three years the majority resigned themselves and calmed down.
Monitoring unit for convicts at Torbeevsky Central
Photo: Maria Frolova
Some eventually slipped into organics - they began to live only by instincts and physiological needs. In order to maintain your sanity in life imprisonment, you must be a strong personality with good heredity. And this is rare: many grew up in dysfunctional families, were subjected to violence, or violence happened before their eyes. Some were even born in prison.
“One percent can be released into the wild”
Life prisoners have the right to apply for parole after serving 25 years of their sentence. In the Mordovian colonies there are people who have been there longer - 26, 28, 30 years. To date, the court has not released anyone. When answering the question whether it is possible to release life-sentence prisoners, prison authorities and psychologists come to an almost unanimous answer.
In theory, prisoners have the right to have their sentences reviewed and released. But I believe that only a few will be able to adapt in the wild due to the high risk of relapse. And only if the convicted person has not lost socially useful connections, housing, and relatives who will help him get used to the modern world.
Tatyana AlyakshinaHead of psychological service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Republic of Mordovia
The head of IK-6, Colonel of the Internal Service Sergei Simakov, believes that prisoners who have served a quarter of a century will not be able to adapt to freedom - there they will have to earn their living, and many before the trial were engaged exclusively in criminal activities. “They [the convicts] don’t know any other life other than what it was like before the colony, but here they are used to living with everything ready, when they are brought breakfast, lunch and dinner according to a schedule,” explains Simakov.
Open letter from Alexander Zubarev, sentenced to death
An open letter from Alexander Zubarev, sentenced to death. Photo: Maria Frolova
Only a small percentage of prisoners sincerely repent of what they have done - they even thank law enforcement officers for stopping them from further crimes and isolating them from society in time. But colony staff are accustomed to treating such words with distrust: prisoners have a high level of deceit - as a way of adapting to circumstances. And high hidden aggressiveness, invisible to ordinary people.
There is a very high probability that each of those who are serving a life sentence, upon release, will sooner or later commit a crime again. Many prisoners themselves say that once a murderer crosses some kind of internal barrier, he will never stop again. For such people, repeated murder is already something familiar. And behind bars they are held back only by circumstances - and the lack of alcohol.
Each of those sentenced to life has a very high level of deceit, which is simply suppressed in places of imprisonment. It is suppressed by them themselves - you will not see it. Deceit is the best way to adapt to conditions. And every convict has the highest aggressiveness hidden inside.
Tatyana AlyakshinaHead of psychological service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Republic of Mordovia
According to the psychologist, in the wild, when there are no restrictions, most, if not all, convicts will relapse again. Those who are truly expected to be released will be able to adapt. Unfortunately, there are only a few of these.
What prisons are they in?
In Russia there are 7 institutions for life prisoners.
This includes people who have committed particularly serious crimes: murder, rape, terrorism, drug smuggling, etc.
These prisons have been given a special status ; they have a high-security regime.
These establishments, despite their status, have very romantic names:
- Mordovian colony. Located in Mordovia, 200 people are serving their sentences there, most of them are serial killers.
- "Black Dolphin".
Located in Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg region. The establishment got its name after one of the prisoners made a sculpture of a black dolphin. Since then, these sculptures have decorated the territory of the establishment. This is the largest colony, designed for 1,600 people; currently about 700 people are serving their sentences and 950 employees work there. - "White Swan".
There are almost 1000 people sitting here. The origin of the name is not exactly known. According to one version, it symbolizes the position in which prisoners are moved inside the colony: in a half-bent position with their hands raised behind their backs in handcuffs. In the entire history of its existence, not a single escape has happened here. The most famous prisoners: Salman Raduev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, who organized a series of terrorist attacks. Convicts can work here. They make crafts from wood, paint pictures, and sew clothes. The salary is about 10 thousand, but all the money goes to compensate the victims’ relatives for the losses. - "Polar Owl". Located in the far north in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Due to the harsh climate, escaping from here is unrealistic. The prison became notorious thanks to reports of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners by staff. The Bitsa maniac Pichushkin and the former policeman Evsyukov, who shot people in a supermarket, are serving their sentences here.
- "Black Golden Eagle" . Not all criminals here are sentenced to life imprisonment. Those who are due to be released are kept in a separate room.
- "Torbeevsky Vologda nickel" .
The colony building previously belonged to the monastery. Escape is impossible due to the high and thick walls and the lake located around the colony. You can only get here via a wooden bridge.
