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With more than 467,000 detainees, Russia ranks first in Europe in terms of the number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. And the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSZIN), which oversees hundreds of thousands of detainees, is an excellent tool for consolidating control and power over society, according to a study of the Russian prison system. Not only the institutions of the FSZIN, but also its code of conduct dates back to the Gulag, and the prison system is a good example of diseases that are present in other elements of the Russian state apparatus: poor infrastructure, endemic corruption and informal rules. on the rule of law.
The Russian prison system has hardly any rival in the world: instead of prison cells, prisoners live in buildings that look like barracks in prison camps. There are about 869 such camps or so-called colonias throughout the country, in addition to these there are eight prisons and 315 examination centers.
Long way to hell
Prisoners are often transported by rail, in purpose-built windowless carriages, over thousands of kilometers and across various time zones. Up to ten people with their personal belongings cram into the 3.4-square-meter cabins of so-called Stolipin cars. Prisoners can go sixty hours without interrupting their journey even for a short time.
And the fate is unknown to both the prisoners and their families.
Detainees regularly disappear from the “radar” for weeks during transport, a serious violation of human rights. An example of this is the case of Ildar Dagyin. A political activist convicted of organizing protests was transferred to a new location after discovering torture conditions in the camp where he served his sentence. Dagyin came from the north near the border with Kazakhstan and the “trip” lasted more than a month, during which time neither his family nor his legal representative knew where to be.
The conditions that await the prisoners after their arrival depend on the type of prison camp in the sentence, there are four different ones. In the less severe penal camps, the so-called colonial settlements, detainees can move freely around the facilities, usually housed in large barracks, periodically leave the colony with permission, meet with their families in principle, and dress in civilian clothes.
In ordinary penitentiaries, detainees are housed in barracks for 150 people, are under constant surveillance and are not allowed to move freely within the facilities.
In harsh and special prison camps, detainees are held in closed cells for 20 to 50 people, not even two square meters per person. Maintaining basic hygiene is almost impossible, epidemics are regular. For a long time, the biggest problem in Russian prisons has been the spread of AIDS and tuberculosis. According to data published by the FSZIN, the third most common death among prisoners is AIDS.
Stalin’s legacy
The geographical location of the prison camps is also a legacy from Soviet times, with camps built where the state began large-scale construction and prisoners sentenced to forced labor. Even today, most colonies are located in regions rich in natural resources or highly industrialized. The situation is worse in remote settlements far from populated areas, where not even running water and heating are unsolved and there is no one to control abuses. This practice is completely in contradiction with the principle of modern sentencing, which aims to rehabilitate offenders. Furthermore, according to the relevant laws, convicted persons must be located “within the limits of the territorial unit of the Russian Federation where they lived or were convicted”.
In 2012, two members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, Marija Aljohina and Nagyezda Tolokonnyikova, were sentenced to prison. After their release, they revealed in detail to the public the inhuman torture to which the prisoners were exposed in the camps. Tolokonnyikova reported that she worked seven hours a day, took a day off every eight weeks, and suffered regular abuse. Aljohina said that it was worth endless humiliations, it happened that she underwent a gynecological exam almost every day for three weeks. Following the horrors experienced, an awareness campaign was launched with the slogan FSIN = Gulag.
The Federal Penitentiary Service employs 325,000 people to maintain the prison system and supervise hundreds of thousands of inmates. With its informal rules, it operates as a state within a state, with its own health care, education, a unique logistics system, and trade in goods characterized by widespread corruption. FSZIN has had a budget of 257.6 billion rubles (about $ 4.5 billion) in recent years.
The unique Russian prison system has brought with it the popularity of prison culture in a certain sector of society. Punishment carried out under harsh conditions became part of male identity as did military service. Terms derived from prison jargon and prison songs are often used in Russian politics and business. Yet as reports of dire circumstances have come to light since the 2000s, and as more and more political opponents of Putin try to be broken and silenced in remote prison camps, so do those who are unwilling to accept. systemic violations. This is how the horrors they suffer become catalysts for resistance.
Top image: Alexei Navalny, leader of the Russian opposition and anti-corruption activist, is released from a Moscow prison on 23 August 2019. MTI / EPA / Maxim Sipenkov
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