Correctional colonies for women. How life works in a women's colony (22 photos)

"Don't swear off money or prison"
“Prison is not a choice, even honest people end up in it”
/Russian proverbs/.

The majority of law-abiding citizens who have never been to a pre-trial detention center, colony or prison, nevertheless have some idea about the life of prisoners. It is formed under the influence of films, television shows, newspaper articles and stories of acquaintances who have been “there”.

But to what extent do ordinary people’s perceptions coincide with reality? What are the conditions of convicted women? What classes are they taking? numerous days imprisonment?
Do you want to know? see photo report from Correctional Colony No. 2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.

IK-2 is a general regime women's colony. It is located in the Leningrad region, in the village of Ulyanovka, not far from the city of Tosno. This is the only women's colony in St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions.

Women convicted of any crimes (including serious ones) for the first time come here. Because there are no strict regime colonies for women like there are for men. Most of those convicted under Article 228 - Illegal acquisition, storage, transportation, production, processing of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues.

Since it is a general regime colony, women live here in dormitories. One of them is in the title photo. As you can see, there are no bars on the windows. Moreover, regular-sized windows with opening sashes: you need to ventilate them - no problem!

All convicts, in the absence of contraindications, are required by law to work. There are several production facilities in IK-2. For example, on clothing production A uniform is being sewn for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And sometimes commercial companies open production facilities on the territory of correctional institutions. They rent premises, import equipment, provide convicts with work, and pay wages.

Expenses for accommodation, food, etc. are deducted from the accrued salary, the rest is transferred to personal accounts. Money from personal accounts can be transferred to loved ones or spent in the prison store.

Working convicts have the right to annual paid leave - 12 working days. Vacations are granted with or without travel outside the correctional institution. But travel leave is granted only with the permission of the head of the colony. This happens infrequently, only in exceptional cases. As a rule, women spend their vacation right in the colony - in the vacation center.

Those sentenced to imprisonment are granted short-term visits lasting four hours and long-term visits lasting three days on the territory of the correctional institution. Maybe six a year short-term dates and six long-term ones.

Also, those sentenced to imprisonment are given the right to telephone conversations. The duration of each conversation should not exceed 15 minutes. Telephone conversations are paid by convicts at their own expense or at the expense of their relatives.

1. A dorm room with easy living conditions. There's even a TV on the wall.
Those convicts who follow the daily routine, do not violate the regime of detention, work, participate in amateur activities, can be transferred from regular conditions of detention to lighter conditions.

2. There are a lot of cats living in dormitories. Moreover, all the cats we met looked quite well-fed and well-groomed.

3. In their free time from work, convicts can take part in various leisure activities.

4. This room is the “hallway” in one of the dormitories. Convicts are given the opportunity to decorate the interior to their taste.

5. Everything is made by the hands of the women living here.

6. Another handsome man.

7. Cats are not the only representatives of the animal world in the hostel.

8. Prison store. Here you can buy food, drinks, household chemicals. The assortment is richer than in some rural and country stores.

9. Payment is made from a personal account, no cash, of course. Debit and credit are combined in these cards - the store can function even without electricity!

10. And this is a room in the vacation center. Wooden beds, paintings on the walls. Looks like an inexpensive resort.

11. There is also a kitchen here. Here you can cook your own food using store-bought products.

12. The highlight of the holiday center is the sauna. It’s quite small, but that doesn’t bother anyone here.

13. Since the colony is for women, several creative workshops are organized here.
Here, for example, carnival masks are made.

14. Participation is voluntary, in your free time.

15.

16. In addition to making masks, women here sew dolls. The result of the work can be passed on to loved ones. Many people have children left behind, and this is a great opportunity to give your child a gift.

17.

18. Paintings are being painted in the next room. The environment is very creative.

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21. And these dolls gained popularity outside the walls of the colony. Some copies were taken to an exhibition at the St. Petersburg Puppet Museum to participate in the general competition.

22. The manufacturing process is quite simple. The blank is pasted over with papier mache and covered with paint. Real hair is used, usually your own, and the face is drawn. The most important thing is elegant dress, this is where all the author’s imagination comes into play.

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24.

25. Hands are sculpted by hand (pardon the pun). But what are they made from?

26. Of course, from bread.

27. If you look closely, all the dolls have different faces.

28. They decided to use motifs from Ancient Egypt in the interior of the gym.
And again the TV is on the wall.

29. And this is the chapel, which is visible in the title photo.
Father comes once a week from Tosno and conducts services. Those who wish can take communion and confess.

30. One of the industries where convicts work. The equipment is modern, all processes are under program control.

31. And this is what comes out. You will buy a bowl for your cat in the store, and it will be made here.

32. In Correctional Colony No. 2 you can not only work, but also study.
There is a vocational school right on the territory of the colony.

33. The main profession that can be obtained here is seamstress.

34. The school has several classrooms.

35. Women here not only study, but also work.
The main products are work clothes, uniforms for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, medical clothing and bed linen.

36. Creative works.

37. Recently, the school has introduced training in a new profession - painter-finisher.

This photo report was prepared as part of a joint project spbblog and the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.

To be honest, what I saw in IK-2 was absolutely not what I expected. Starting from the absence of bars on the windows and fairly good living conditions, and ending with a variety of options creative activities. In my unprofessional opinion, all the conditions have been created here for rethinking your actions, acquiring new professional skills and starting a new life.

When it comes to places where people serve sentences for crimes, it seems that the conversation should be about a prison or a colony for men. However, we should not forget about Russia’s other disaster. This is an ever-increasing female crime. It also requires punishment and restriction of freedom.

Women's zones in Russia are 35 colonies in which 60 thousand people are serving their sentences. This number represents five percent of the total number of prisoners in the country. Women's zones in Russia, the list of which is very small, are not located in all districts. That is why most criminals have to serve their sentences far from their home.

Why are women imprisoned?

The conducted studies convincingly prove the fact that representatives of the fair sex commit crimes that are more and more “male” in nature. IN last decades There is also an increase in hooliganism in which representatives of the fair sex took part.

Women are also imprisoned for fraud, shoplifting, burglaries, selling and transporting drugs, buying and selling stolen goods, car theft,

The number of youth gangs, whose members are very young creatures aged 15 to 19 years, is also growing in the country. Such criminals in skirts are particularly cruel, killing their victims without any reason. Many of these girls have problems with drugs, which cost a lot of money to use.

It is worth saying that there could be twice as many of those serving their sentences. However, women's areas, like men's, are regularly released thanks to amnesties. The number of people serving sentences is also reduced by rather lenient legislation. However, this does not make the problem of society any less urgent. After all, thirty percent of convicts who are sent to women’s zones are imprisoned for especially serious crimes. As a rule, they are committed on domestic grounds, when a dispute escalates into a fight with bloody consequences. The crimes of the rest of the women are theft and drug distribution. And only a small percentage of those convicted are women who have committed economic crimes.

Correctional facilities for the weaker half of humanity

Where are the women's zones in Russia? They are scattered throughout the regions of the country. Moreover, each colony has its own characteristics. For example, there are women's areas where children's homes are set up. These are the following correctional institutions:

• Kemerovo;
• Moscow;
• Sverdlovsk;
• Vladimir regions;
• Khabarovsk and Krasnodar territories;
• Nizhny Novgorod;
• Samara;
• Chelyabinsk;
• Mordovia.

There are women's zones where minors serve their sentences. This is 21 thousand girls. Almost one and a half thousand of them were placed in educational colonies. One of these correctional institutions is located in Bryansk (Komarov St., 30).

For dangerous repeat offenders, there are also women's zones in Russia. Where are they located? One of these colonies is located in (Berezniki, Lenin Avenue, 81), and the second is in Orlovskaya (Shakhovo village).

Almost twenty thousand women are kept in pre-trial detention centers. Especially for ladies, pre-trial detention centers were opened in Moscow (82 Shosseynaya St.), St. Petersburg (11 Arsenalnaya St.) and Yekaterinburg. How are criminals kept in other regions? There is an area for women in the prison. Such pre-trial detention centers are of a mixed type.

There is also a women’s zone for foreign criminals in our country. It is located on the territory of Mordovia. 12 thousand are serving their sentences in this correctional facility. foreign citizens, 500 of whom are residents of non-CIS countries.

As for pre-trial detention centers, they are located in cities. Most often in the center of a populated area. This is explained by the fact that most of the pre-trial detention centers were built before 1917 in Tsarist Russia. And in those days, prisons and prisons were the most important city government services.

As for PS, women’s zones in Russian regions were built, as a rule, during Stalin’s times. Until the early 60s they were called camps. Such institutions were built away from the main roads. That is why today it is possible to reach many of them by public transport very difficult.

Where exactly are the women's zones in Russia? We have provided the addresses and locations above.

Types of PS

What could a women's area be like? First of all, it is worth saying that correctional institutions belong to the criminal correctional system of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. With the help of colonies, punishments are carried out, which are expressed either for a certain period or for life. Those sentenced to death are also held in correctional institutions.

A zone for women can be a correctional or educational colony, a prison, or a medical correctional institution.

Types of control units by modes

As a rule, a Russian women's zone is one that contains persons who have already reached the age of eighteen. The Russian penal system includes four types of colonies. Their difference lies in the existing modes. Among them are colonies:

• settlements;
• general regime;
• strict regime;
• special regime.

However, not all of these correctional institutions are intended for women. What is the regime in the women's zone? To serve their sentences, criminals are sent only to colony settlements, where they can live in a common area with men, as well as to general regime correctional institutions. In the latter institutions, prisoners are separated by gender. Is there a women's zone, a strict regime or a special one in which it is used for convicts? There are no similar correctional facilities for criminals.

Referral of convicts by the court

In which colony will the criminal or criminal serve his sentence? This is decided by the court. Thus, general regime are intended for women who have committed serious and especially serious crimes with any relapse. In addition, when considering a case, the court carefully examines the identity of the perpetrator. And taking into account the circumstances of the crime committed, a decision may be made to send a woman who has committed an illegal offense through negligence to a correctional colony. Those criminals who must be punished for an unintentional criminal offense, as well as for an act of moderate and minor gravity, can also serve their sentence here. In this case, the crimes must be committed for the first time.

A women's prison (zone) for minors is an educational colony with the same general regime. In these institutions, light and ordinary, as well as strict and preferential conditions for serving a sentence are established. Juvenile delinquents have one and only one privilege. If they conscientiously perform their labor duties and there are no penalties, which must be confirmed during the first three months of imprisonment, the administration can transfer them to a normal regime of stay.

Criminals can be sent by the court to penal colonies, as well as to medical institutions of the law enforcement system. There is no differentiation by gender in the territory of these PSs. Here, men and women live in buildings located on the same territory. At the same time, separate rooms are provided for them.

A women's prison (zone) is a place where criminals with young children (under 3 years old) can serve their sentences. The court sends such mothers to colonies where an orphanage is opened. Not only women with children, but also pregnant women end up in such institutions.

Internal distribution

The administration resettles convicted women directly in the correctional facility. Thus, criminals serving their sentences for the first time are kept separately from those who have already been sent to a colony before. Women who have received their sentences for dangerous and especially dangerous criminal offenses are also kept in isolation from others.

The administration of the correctional institution places these categories of convicts in separate areas. However, meeting such conditions is not always possible due to the lack of housing, as well as the lack of the necessary organizational and material and technical base.

The women's zone (see photo below) provides for the creation of ordinary, light and strict conditions for convicts. In 2003 in the federal law, concerning these PS, some amendments have been made. They affected those ladies who are serving their sentences in lighter conditions. Thus, since 2003, such women have been allowed to live outside the colony with their family if there are six months left before the end of their sentence.

In general, the law does not regulate the conditions of detention in a general regime penal colony based on gender. Women are given only minor privileges in the form of an increase in living space standards (3.5 square meters instead of 2).

In addition, convicted pregnant women and those who have reached the age of 55 can be involved in unpaid work only with their consent. These categories of convicts, as well as minors, must have at least fifty percent of their earnings credited to their personal accounts.

According to the rules for maintaining penal institutions, women can:

• use cosmetics;
• purchase necessary items, clothing, etc. from the store on the premises of the institution.

In addition, a hairdresser and a photographer work in the correctional colony for convicted women. Ladies must pay for their services with their own money.

Places of residence

Cells for female prisoners can be of different sizes. However, most of them are designed for 40-60 people. Bunk beds are provided for sleeping. They are installed in two rows. People call such sleeping places “bunks”. Only a few beds that are installed in the opposite corner from the cell doors may not have a second shelf. This place has its own name - “glade”. The eldest and women close to her live here, who have been serving their sentences for a long time.

The cell also has its own kitchen, as well as a toilet with shower. They are located separately from the main room. Despite the fact that there are no restrictions on the time women can visit the shower, they can wash their clothes only on certain days.

The camera is cleaned daily. And they do this in the morning and evening. On weekends, a mandatory attribute is general cleaning of the living room, kitchen and toilet. This is done by those on duty, who are appointed according to a specific schedule. Refusal from cleaning is not possible. The only exceptions are those convicted women who have been serving their sentence for more than one year.

Poor cleaning must be punished. The offending woman is assigned additional duty outside of the schedule.

Motherhood behind bars

In women's areas where children's homes are open, there are maternity wards. They are created in order to provide medical care pregnant women serving a sentence in a colony. According to the law, the administration of such institutions must create all conditions for normal development and the accommodation of the children there. A convicted mother can communicate with her child in her free time from work. In this case, their cohabitation is permissible.

After the baby turns three years old, with the consent of the mother, he is handed over to be raised by relatives or other persons. IN otherwise the child will be sent to a state child care institution.

A woman is given short-term leave to arrange for her baby. Its duration is fifteen days excluding travel. Subsequently, for the same period, the colony administration provides the mother with permission to visit the child.

In the event that the convicted mother remains to serve her sentence less than a year, a three-year-old child can be left in an orphanage. Here he will wait for his mother's release. However, this right is granted only to those women who are distinguished by impeccable behavior.

Pregnant women and women with children under three years of age are entitled to all rights and benefits provided Russian legislation. In addition, they can without any restrictions purchase basic necessities and food products, health equipment, special clothes and shoes. Payment in this case is made from funds stored in the prisoner’s personal account.

Employment

The administration of any correctional colony has one very important responsibility. It must provide convicts with employment. In this case, the woman’s age and, if possible, specialty are taken into account.

Working convicts have the right to paid annual leave. Its duration is twelve days, excluding weekends.

Juvenile offenders in an educational institution are granted longer leave. It is eighteen working days. The same leave is granted to women who have reached the age of 55.

It is noted that convicted women work more diligently than men. Only a small percentage of women do not want to work or are dishonest about their duties.

In order to diversify the monotonous work of convicts, who are usually employed in clothing production, the administration of penal institutions often offers them new areas of employment. This includes knitting and lace weaving, folk crafts, etc.

Leisure

What do convicted women do in their free time from work? These are, as a rule, small household chores, satisfying personal needs, writing letters, participating in amateur performances, playing sports and reading literature. In addition, women take an active part in religious activities. They help church ministers conduct appropriate rituals.

Many of the convicts emphasize important unlimited correspondence, as well as the ability to use a computer network and telephone communications to communicate with close relatives.

What's the hardest thing about being in prison?

A woman is assigned a certain social role in society, and are also destined for functions other than those of men. In addition, representatives of the weak half of humanity are always distinguished by their way of life and their historically determined place in the system of human relations. And this is not to mention the biological and psychophysiological characteristics of women. What happens to them in places of detention?

Once caught, the lawbreaker finds herself completely alone. The fact is that women are rarely placed in temporary detention centers, and those who end up there are placed separately from men. Such conditions are perceived very painfully from the first hours. Lack of communication with people has a depressing effect on the female psyche.

Further, when an arrest order is issued, the person who has violated the law is transferred to a pre-trial detention center. Prison reality becomes for women a complete surprise. Sometimes this causes offenders to lose their sense of reality. And this is not surprising. After all, every person who finds himself in prison for the first time experiences extreme stress. And if in the temporary detention center it seems that this whole nightmare will soon end, then in prison it becomes clear that the imprisonment will last at least several months or even more than one year. On psychological condition Women are also influenced by information hunger. It begins to seem to her that her family has forgotten her, and her friends have completely abandoned her. This greatly increases the prisoner's suffering.

In such a situation, only conversations with cellmates have some psychotherapeutic effect. Feminine nature allows you to calm down a little by sharing the trouble that has come with at least someone. However, every person sometimes feels the need to be alone with himself. But it is not possible to do this in the camera. The constant presence of strangers simply begins to irritate and cause anxiety. When a woman’s psycho-emotional state reaches its maximum level, inevitable conflicts arise. Fortunately, with ladies they are limited to small everyday issues and end with conversations in a raised voice. Fights in cells where ladies who have broken the law are kept are extremely rare.

After the verdict is passed, the criminals will find a women's zone. Photos taken in the colony convincingly confirm the fact that there is a lack of personal space here too. Whether it's a construction site, a manufacturing facility, or a bedroom, prisoners are always in a crowd. In addition, the colony administration suppresses any attempts to decorate a bedside table or bed with any pictures or photographs. Even drying can result in punishment underwear on the headboard during the daytime.

For a person accustomed to a free life, it will be difficult to adhere to the general regime of getting up, going to bed and eating. It is not easy to spend time in common places and free time from work.

Prison clothes have a negative impact on a woman's psyche. This is usually blue or gray skirt or pants, as well as a blouse. For the street, a padded jacket and a scarf are issued, which the woman must wear all day until she returns to the barracks for the night. It is this accessory that greatly irritates those serving sentences.

What is the meaning of restrictions? They make a woman understand that her usual actions are dangerous. And in order to avoid risk, it is necessary to accept the established rules. Through established discipline, the administration seeks to fit all prisoners into one mold, forcing them to obey and perform. A person deprived of his personal life begins to lose control over his actions. He is losing the habit of independence. This often leads to the fact that, once released, a woman cannot adapt to ordinary life society.

A woman in prison: prison visits, prison sex, children born behind bars...

To the colony to meet my wife

Sergei is preparing to meet his wife Galina in the colony. He has already purchased everything he needs for a 30-kilogram transfer. All that remains is to buy some sweets for the three-day date - berries, fruits, ice cream.

Sergei has been going to the colony for meetings for three years now. In another three years, the sentence will end. The sentence Galina received was nine years in prison. Her first husband, with whom she was involved in the same case, also received the same amount. To date, Galina has served six years. Her first marriage had cracked even before her arrest. A couple of years later, when the spouses had already been distributed according to different zones, it became clear that they didn’t even have anything to write to each other about.

Sergei is Galinin’s second husband. We somehow managed to meet each other at the stage. The young man then received two years in prison. We started corresponding. If letters go from zone to zone, this is always problematic. But we established a connection through will. After serving his sentence, Sergei came to Galina for short date. Soon they signed. The husband tries to support his wife in every possible way, both morally and financially. “When our loved ones behind bars feel like they are needed outside, time flies much faster in captivity,” he says. In turn, Galina writes in almost every letter to her husband how happy she is, because she finally understood what it means to live.

For those who are far from the realities of prison, this short story- supposedly from the series “Santa Barbara”. However, anyone who has been in prison will tell you that other things happen in prisons. Although rare.

As a rule, their mothers and, less often, their fathers come to visit convicted women. More rarely - spouses, especially with children.

“Why do they need dates, why?” “If spouses most often wait for their husbands, then men are much less patient,” says Sergei sincerely. “The longer the period, the significantly less chance of maintaining the relationship.” He explains this by the fact that men are without They can’t have sex, and therefore when the wife is behind bars, most often they find new life partners.

Sergei is convinced that long prison visits should still be much more frequent than once every six months. He also believes that so-called bachelors should also have the right to long visits with loved ones.

Human rights activists refer to the experience of the Swedish penitentiary system, where prisoners, regardless of whether they are married or not, can meet with their loved ones in prison every week. “If we talk about our long visits of up to three days (one, two, three times a year ), is absolutely not enough. There is also the opportunity to meet with their families weekly. Frankly speaking, there is the possibility of some kind of physiological release, which is also important. In this way, a person constantly feels a connection with his family. In addition, relatives do not have to think about how and for what to collect the next parcel for the carer. Here in Sweden, where prisoners are provided with literally everything, there is simply no such problem.”

Such a restriction on dating, as well as the forced renunciation of sex during fertile age, leads to hormonal cycle disturbances and affects mental state, creates an atmosphere of significant sexual tension in prisons.

More than half of the sitting women are covered in lesbian love

According to research by psychologists at the Moscow Research Center for Mental Health, conducted in institutions of the Russian prison system, a woman is in prison due to the lack of necessary tactile contacts with loved ones and emotional connections“breaks” much faster than a man. The psyche of women cannot stand it after 2 years of forced separation from home, relatives, and family, while in men this happens after 3-5 years. Often in such conditions, instead of a real feeling, a woman who needs it begins to look for some kind of surrogate feeling.

According to researchers, forced lesbian love in Russia affects more than half of the women in prison. A similar picture is typical for most women's correctional institutions, explains former convict Maria, who served two years in a colony.

Maria: “Many people have this kind of connection. Especially among those who repeatedly sit for a long time. Those who have short time, can only slightly taste this kind of love. Some people get by without sex at all. However, among those serving long terms, more than half have such connections. All such relationships arise absolutely voluntarily. Nobody rapes anyone."

As Maria says, two types of such partnerships are common in women’s prisons.

Maria: “1 are the so-called “halves”, they identify themselves as women and look accordingly feminine. 2nd type of connection - when women perform already male and female role. The first of them look very much like men. When I first saw such a woman in a pre-trial detention center, I thought that some guy had been put in the cell by mistake.

Such women are called “cobles” or “pickers”. Their faces are scarred, their hair is short, their voices are rough. I don’t know how it happens that a woman changes completely. "Cobles" show signs of attention to a certain girl. They are like a real married couple. The so-called man will protect his mistress and be jealous of her. Moreover, specific scenes of jealousy occur, and fights and arguments are not uncommon. After being released from prison, the “koblas” sometimes did everything to get back. After all, the so-called wife remained there. So strong love was. If both women are free, then very often they continue to live together in freedom. Sometimes a couple raises the child of one of them together. It happens that even those born in prison.”

"Where the babies come from?"

According to Maria, the demographic problems characteristic of society did not affect women's zones at all. Convicts give birth very often.

But where do children come from in the colony, from whom? As Maria says, women get pregnant while still free, just before the pre-trial detention center. Some become pregnant while still in prison after long dates with spouses. There are other options.

Maria: " Sexual relations It also happened to men in our zone. For example, with civilian workers. When there was construction going on somewhere. But, however, such cases were often stopped. As a result, those workers were fired, and the women received various penalties. The very last point: when the clinic was being built during my time, girls were forbidden to even come close to those workers, wear short skirts and thus provoke men. As far as I know from the girls themselves, they are trying to come into contact with the so-called “chemists” at the factory. They are trying to organize a call to meet in some back rooms. But recently the factory has recruited very young and frightened people who are literally running away from these girls. Previously, as experienced prisoners told me, in a separate cell you could meet a male prisoner for 50 “cu.” Now this is almost impossible - everything is under video surveillance.”

Remembering breastfeeding women in prison, Maria says that not all of them are familiar with maternal feelings. The girl believes that most of these convicts give birth to a child for opportunistic reasons, for the sake of various privileges. These are walks without restrictions on fresh air, improved nutrition - dairy products, more fresh fruits and vegetables. Plus regular medical care. This, however, can be said about the zone. In a pre-trial detention center, it is much more difficult for pregnant women - they live like everyone else.

Maria: “In addition, some women, such as mothers of infants, can even expect to receive parole. Upon release they receive a certain financial assistance- money, toys, things. When they leave prison, they often simply take and abandon their children... More often at train stations. This happens in the first hours after release.”

As Russian expert psychologists note in their studies, very rare stories of prison motherhood have a happy ending. The system itself in the former Soviet republics is structured in such a way that for a person who has been released from prison, there are no conditions to find any place in life. Therefore, usually former convicted women, who have developed maternal feelings and who are not going to give their child born in prison to anyone, remember with nostalgia the time they spent together with the baby in the colony. Even if it was lack of freedom, their small family had everything necessary for existence. Under the conditions of the Russian penitentiary system, there are also homes for children of convicted mothers. They are designed for children from zero to three years old. How advisable is it to keep children from their very birth in a prison “orphanage”? Isn’t it better to do this in the same institution at large until the mother is released from prison?

A journalist I know who visited women's colony several years ago at an Open Day, he noted that the prison house resembles a private kindergarten. The walls of the rooms are painted with fairy-tale characters, and there are wooden cribs in the rooms. There is a music room and games rooms, a children's courtyard with gazebos, flower beds, and a playground with swings. All problem children who have inherited certain diseases from their mother, and these are the majority, are under the close attention of a neurologist, pediatrician, nurse, and educators. Their health is slowly recovering. Then the journalist was able to talk with some mothers. One of them, convicted Alla, in a conversation with a colleague was very worried about how painful it was for her to see her child behind the “thorn.” Alla became pregnant in the colony while on a date with her husband. At first he encouraged her very much, wrote, and came. And then he disappeared. They say he has a new passion. Not a day, Alla said, did she have the thought that her daughter’s life begins in the zone.

The woman, however, was confident that she would still put her daughter on her feet and give her upbringing and education. She hoped that she would never have such an experience again in her life. However, she said she would not hide it from her daughter.

I wonder what happened to this mother and her daughter? And are they together now?

Maria: “Of course, it happens in different ways. There are cases when women in a colony tremble over their children, and then go out and drink away all the children’s things. After all, if a mother and child are released from a colony, they provide the child with a stroller, clothing, and food for the first weeks. There are mothers who drink it right away. However, basically, I emphasize this word, mothers love their children very much. The child is very motivated to become responsible for his fate, because they have no other good person like this baby.”

However, let’s return to the research of psychologists at the Mental Health Center. According to their conclusions, after two to three years of imprisonment, many women, including women who are mothers, experience certain metamorphoses in their consciousness. Contrary to common sense and the innate thirst for freedom, the feeling of punishment disappears, fades - and it seems to them that prison is the only home acceptable for their existence, from which they are afraid and there is no need to go out into this world where no one is waiting for you. Someone, realizing this, reconciles and begins to integrate into this familiar ugly environment, adapts, disingenuously, while someone falls into indifference, despair, melancholy, anger at everything and everyone...

Maximum security colonies in Russia are one of the types of institutions for holding adults sentenced to imprisonment. These establishments were created back in the USSR. Let us further consider what a maximum security correctional colony is.

Story

On July 11, 1929, the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was adopted. It regulated the use of prison labor and the creation of two parallel structures of places of serving sentences in the form of imprisonment. The first consisted of ITL - forced labor camps. They held persons sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years or more. In the second structure, citizens sentenced to up to 3 years served their sentences. To maintain the latter, industrial and agricultural settlements had to be organized. In 1934, correctional labor colonies were transferred to the subordination of the Main Directorate of Prisons, Labor Settlements and Camps of the NKVD of the USSR. According to the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU, in 1956, all ITL of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministries of Internal Affairs of the union republics, and then reorganized into ITK. In accordance with the foundations of the Soviet Criminal Code, crimes of varying degrees of severity were subject to imprisonment in a strict regime colony, general, special and enhanced, as well as in settlements. Since January 1, 1997, ITC began to be called IC.

Who is the maximum security colony intended for?

These institutions house citizens convicted for the first time of especially serious crimes, recidivists, if they were previously sentenced to imprisonment. The maximum security women's colony was previously intended for those who had committed especially dangerous crimes repeatedly.

Description

The maximum security colony is divided into residential and industrial zones. The latter houses production facilities. The residential area, in turn, is divided into several “local zones”. They house dormitories for convicts. In the residential area, as a rule, there is also a dining room, a library, a club, an outpatient clinic, a bathhouse, and in some cases a small hospital designed for 10-30 people. In addition, there is a headquarters intended for administrative workers. There is often a church on the territory of the colony. It is usually built by the prisoners themselves. The maximum security women's colony also includes a school for convicts. In the residential area there are premises for long-term (from 1 to 3 days) and short-term (2-4 hours) meetings.

Maximum security colony: conditions of detention

Prisoners are kept in locked cells. The norm of living space per convicted person according to the law is 7 square meters. m. In addition to the cells, there is a separate room in which personal belongings are stored, a locker room, and a room where prisoners eat food. On the territory where the maximum security colony is located, cultural events are periodically held. The club or “red corner” has tables, bookshelves, a TV, and a radio. In colonies of any regime except special regime there is a large fenced area. Convicts walk there. The venue is designed for 200-600 people on average. During the day and free time convicts can go to the walking area. Movement throughout the rest of the territory is permitted with the permission of the administration and only in formation. One maximum security colony can accommodate from 500 to 3 thousand convicts. On average, there are 1.5-2 thousand people in the institution. The colony provides premises for violators of discipline: a punishment cell (a punishment cell in which those punished are kept for up to 15 days) and a PKT (cell-type premises where persons are kept for up to 6 months).

Distinctive features

The difference between institutions is established in Art. 122 and 121 of the Penal Code. Certain restrictions are imposed on convicted persons. They are expressed in maximum quantity the funds he has the right to spend, the number of dates, and so on. In a colony, convicts can be kept in strict, light and ordinary conditions. They act as a "horizontal" movement within one institution. Under normal conditions, under strict conditions, a prisoner can spend no more than two minimum wages on food and other goods. The funds are in an account that is specially opened in his name. Prisoners in general regime colonies are entitled to 4 long-term and 6 short-term visits, and in strict conditions - 3 from each type. There are also differences in the transfers received by convicts. During the year, those in general regime colonies are allowed 6 parcels and parcels per year, and 4 in strict regime colonies.

Procedure for stay and transfer

Convicts who enter the colony with general regime detention, after the sentence comes into effect, are sent to normal conditions. Other prisoners can also be transferred to them. For example, those who were on lighter conditions in case they were recognized as persistent violators of discipline in the institution. At the same time, those who served their sentences in strict conditions can be transferred to normal conditions. This is possible if they have no violations or penalties, and they work conscientiously for a certain period. If the convicted person is characterized extremely negatively, often behaves inappropriately, and does not comply with established rules, he is transferred to strict conditions. In this case, the prisoner is placed in a locked cell. They have the right to an hour and a half walk every day if they are not working in the open air. Those who committed intentional crimes during their stay in the colony are transferred to strict conditions in a colony with a special regime of detention. And those who have been convicted of grave and especially grave acts are placed in them immediately after arrival. They are transferred to lighter conditions from normal conditions for exemplary behavior.

In this case, convicts receive the right to live in dormitories.

Finally

The amount of funds that prisoners have in their personal accounts opened for them during the period of serving their sentence, and which they have the right to spend on various needs (essential necessities, food, etc.), except for those that they earned during the period of conviction and received in the form of benefits, pensions and other social payments, the number of visits with relatives, the number of parcels and parcels given to convicts, and telephone calls will depend on the type of colony and the conditions of stay in them. In general, the content in the IC complies with the accepted standards and established requirements of the PEC. Anyone convicted in a colony with strict regime can be transferred to gentle conditions when good behavior. For repeated violations, if punishments in the form of stay in a PKT or a punishment cell do not help, the prisoner is placed in a more strict atmosphere.

The media have recently paid a lot of attention to the problem of women in prison. Television and newspaper reports, analytical articles, interviews with officials of the criminal-executive service are devoted to this topic...

However, journalistic research suffers from an obvious one-sidedness; they show only the “facade” side of the problem. It is naive to think that a prisoner to whom a journalist hands a microphone in the presence of citizen superiors will be sincere and spontaneous in her assessment of prison reality. One can hardly count on the frankness of a pre-trial detention center employee who still has to serve and serve... In this sense, information received from professionals who have recently left the prison system, are well versed in its complex organization and are able to think and speak freely is valuable. without regard to the authorities. As the famous character in the film “The meeting place cannot be changed” said: “You, boss, should... write books.”

Childbirth in prison

If you happen to give birth in prison, then you have an exceptional opportunity to learn a lot of details that other women have never even dreamed of: is it possible to give birth in handcuffs and whether there are guards present during childbirth; how long the woman in labor remains in the maternity hospital and how she is taken back to the isolation ward; is the baby searched when he and his mother go to court; whether the pregnant woman is being persuaded to have an abortion; can a mother raise her child if she is allowed to take him to a colony, and much, much more.

Pregnant women are kept in common cells - stuffy, smoky - and fed the same food. A woman in labor is usually taken to the hospital at the first contractions, if the prisoners manage to inform the administration about this. They take you in a paddy wagon or in an ambulance, but always under escort. In some cases, a woman giving birth may be brought in in handcuffs. After giving birth, a woman held in a labor colony must begin work within two months. The child remains in the hospital for the prescribed time - 5-6 days, and then, if he is healthy, he is returned to his mother. From this moment, or a little earlier, the mother begins to live in a separate chamber, adapted for such cases, in which only pregnant or nursing women can stay. This is what is written in the “Law on Detention”. But, like many other things provided for by this act, most often it remains a simple declaration, a good intention, one of those with which the road...to hell is paved.

Motherhood in prison

“Mommies” or “mothers” are the most odious part of the female prison population. They are spoken of with slight irony, or even completely disapprovingly. They are considered a heavy burden on the penitentiary system - after all, by law they are not required to work to feed themselves; they cannot be placed in a punishment cell or punishment cell even for serious offenses; they cannot be handcuffed during; they need special cameras and special conditions.

Woman in prison - who is she?

Women's crime is significantly different in nature from men's. Women are much less likely to commit crimes for profit. Robberies, assaults, murders with the aim of taking possession of other people's property are not women's crimes. But grossly violent acts of an everyday nature: murders motivated by jealousy, revenge, grievous bodily harm are typically the “female lot” in criminal statistics.