The pre-trial detention center (SIZO) temporarily houses people under investigation and all those who are awaiting transfer to correctional institutions - prisons, colony settlements and others. The period of stay in a pre-trial detention center can last for several months, so a person one way or another has to adapt to the new environment. One of the most important components of life behind bars is hygiene. In addition to formalities, there are also unwritten rules that the detainee must strictly adhere to.
The total period of stay of a defendant in a temporary detention center before transferring the case to court can last up to 18 months. The pre-trial detention center has both single and general cells. The second option is more common. In crowded conditions, hygiene in rooms with several people becomes almost of paramount importance.
What does a prisoner have to do?
Before being assigned directly to the cell of the pre-trial detention center, the defendant is given cutlery, a towel and a set of bedding, which includes a blanket, pillow and mattress. As a rule, prisoners have their own clothes, but, if necessary, they can be provided with them on the spot.
Based on the number of people in the cell, prisoners are given laundry soap (200 g per month per prisoner), toilet soap (50 g per month for men and 100 g for women) and toilet paper. They don’t forget about the things necessary to keep the cell clean: brooms, dustpans, rags and other household supplies.
The prisoner must bring his own toothpaste and brush. However, in the event of their absence and the impossibility of purchasing them with one’s own funds, the person under investigation receives these items on the spot. The same goes for disposable razors for men and products for intimate hygiene for women.
Unwritten rules
A person entering a pre-trial detention center for the first time will be told in his cell what he can do and what he should refrain from doing. For example, you cannot shake hands or in any way touch the “offended” - those who, for various reasons, have been relegated to the lowest rung of the prison hierarchical ladder.
A cell in a pre-trial detention center is no different from a prison cell. Bunks, shelf for toiletries, washbasin, trash can, toilet. All this is in close proximity to each other.
In a prison environment, it is very important to monitor both personal hygiene and the cleanliness of the surrounding area. However, it is extremely difficult for an unprepared psychological person to keep himself in proper shape. Thoughts about deprivation of freedom and an unclear perspective depress a person, he gives up, he stops taking care of himself: washing, shaving, brushing his teeth.
However, some cameras do not have a mirror, which makes the situation even worse. A person who has given up on himself gradually convinces himself that no one is interested in his appearance anymore. People who are familiar with the realities of prison first-hand advise that such thoughts should be driven away by all means.
“Chushka” means weak
A person who neglects himself risks falling into the category of “devils.” There is a concept among prisoners that those who have lost willpower and broken under the blows of fate do not take care of themselves. And broken and desperate means weak, and the weak behind bars with the sometimes wild rules and specific laws there are not respected.
“Devils”, or in other words “pigs”, do the most difficult and dirty work in prison. Thus, insufficient attention to one’s own hygiene in a pre-trial detention center is a direct path to the very bottom of the prison community.
In the shower in underwear
Bathing in a pre-trial detention center is allowed once a week, but the administration of the institution can organize a “bath day” twice a week. The duration of shower procedures is at least 15 minutes, most often prisoners are given about half an hour. It is noteworthy that previously those placed in custody could only wash with soap, but in 2016 they were allowed to use shower gels.
Take off underwear When going to the shower, it is not customary to wash directly in it. This is done in order to avoid accidentally touching another person with your bare genitals, which is considered as humiliation with all the ensuing unpleasant consequences.
Toilet nuances
As a rule, there are no separate toilets in places of detention: all amenities are located directly in the cell and are separated from the rest of the space by symbolic curtains and partitions, which, however, are mercilessly destroyed by the guards.
Considering that the cell size often does not exceed eight square meters, the toilet problem is the most pressing and piquant in the lives of prisoners. A person is forced to relieve himself in front of others. Sometimes this process is accompanied by vulgar jokes from fellow inmates.
There are many different taboos associated with the “dalnyak”, as the toilet is called in prison slang. For example, unwritten rules strictly prohibit eating while someone is defecating. And vice versa - if someone eats, others must be patient. By the way, to get rid of unpleasant odor, prisoners pull out cotton wool from their cell mattresses and burn it. After performing natural needs, one must wash one’s hands, otherwise they are considered “dirty”, which means that everything they touch becomes “unclean” (“remembered”), that is, prohibited for others to touch. Anyone who forgets to wash their hands the first time gets off with a warning, but if it happens again, more severe measures may be taken.
Thus, maintaining hygiene in places of detention, including pre-trial detention centers, is prescribed not only by the official regulations, but also by the set of rules of the inmates themselves. Both the health of the prisoner and his position in the prison hierarchy directly depend on this.
Yesterday, Sunday, I spent the whole day reading terrible horror stories about women's prisons, and today, Monday, I woke up and went to the bathhouse. I must say that I love going to a public bathhouse, where there are many different naked women. Overall good. But when today I imagined that we would have to spend not an hour and a half together, but, for example, a year and a half, I felt uneasy. The similarity with prison methods of self-organization and establishment of hierarchy alarmed me. Women.
Firstly, the bathhouse always has its own quotes. If you don’t have a very specific set of all sorts of accessories, you’re out of the question. If you offer to ventilate the steam room, they can easily say: “put on your cap first, and then teach us.” If, on the contrary, you have too many bells and whistles, then they look at you with a grin. There is no “common fund” there, so all you can do for the common good is not get fucked. It is interesting that physicality itself (thinness, fullness, body structure) does not matter. Naked body is present as if by default, as something obligatory for being there. Like a prison sentence.
Secondly, “suits” in a women’s bathhouse, as in a prison, are assigned spontaneously and are very related to age. The most masculine and mature women (usually there are several of them) take upon themselves maintaining the desired temperature in the steam room. To those who are younger, they often point to the number of leaves with an unambiguous hint: “You should sweep them, since you’re sitting, they’re women after all.” Those few daredevils who jump into an icy pool (very cold) can instantly gain the right to control the temperature: “let her give in, she knows a lot, have you seen her splashing in icy water?”
Thirdly, there is always confrontation between groups. Those who are currently monitoring the steam room, self-identified “thieves,” are objects of foul language from those who are waiting for the “steamers” to leave, and for the latter to finally be able to do everything in their own way, of course, better. And while they wait, they sit on bath benches (reminiscent of bunks) and, sometimes even very maliciously, whisper about all this.
Fourthly, mutual assistance is situational. A woman who volunteers to wash your back (even sometimes a person you know before) can easily say nasty things about you or simply awkward details as soon as you cross the threshold of the steam room. You leave, and she remains in the forced conditions of a variety of conversations. Access to the body means nothing here.
Fifthly, there are always unconditional “others”. For example, heavily tattooed young ladies. Or girls with piercings. For Russian bath attendants they are still a curiosity, and I have never seen anyone talk to them. The second type of “others” are visitors to VIP rooms, with whom ordinary bath attendants share a common steam room (they enter the same steam room through a different door). They are called “these” and are remembered very often. “Well, did these guys show up today?” They are most often not allowed to control the temperature, and they rarely go out.
When you are in the locker room and the next woman leaves the bathhouse, she always says goodbye, says “thank you,” “enjoy your steam,” and smiles. She organizes hooded scarves for a very long time, as if this visit was unique for her and it is very difficult for her to leave this place. Today, for some reason, another woman said to me, “God bless you.” (By the way, sometimes women cross themselves before entering the steam room).
Well, of course, all this is done as a joke, as if once you’re naked, you’re good for a hundred years. And you also belong because you are a woman. And also, because this is all for an hour and a half. But I can imagine how it all turns into hysterical petty cruelty, stupid and merciless. And how it doesn’t turn out that way for men. This is the story.
Saved
Yesterday, Sunday, I spent the whole day reading terrible horror stories about women's prisons, and today, Monday, I woke up and went to the bathhouse. I must say that I love going to a public bathhouse, where there are many different naked women. Overall good. But when today I imagined that we would have to spend not an hour and a half together, but, for example, a year and a half, I felt uneasy. The similarity with prison methods of self-organization and establishment of hierarchy alarmed me. Women.
Firstly, the bathhouse always has its own quotes. If you don’t have a very specific set of all sorts of accessories, you’re out of the question. If you offer to ventilate in the steam room, they can easily say: “put on your cap first, and then teach us.” If, on the contrary, you have too many bells and whistles, then they look at you with a grin. There is no “common fund” there, so all you can do for the common good is not get fucked. It is interesting that physicality itself (thinness, fullness, body structure) does not matter. The naked body is present as if by default, as something obligatory for being there. Like a prison sentence.
Secondly, “suits” in a women’s bathhouse, as in a prison, are assigned spontaneously and are very related to age. The most masculine and mature women (usually there are several of them) take upon themselves maintaining the desired temperature in the steam room. To those who are younger, they often point to the number of leaves with an unambiguous hint: “You should sweep them, since you’re sitting, they’re women after all.” Those few daredevils who jump into an icy pool (very cold) can instantly gain the right to control the temperature: “let her give in, she knows a lot, have you seen her splashing in icy water?”
Thirdly, there is always confrontation between groups. Those who are currently monitoring the steam room, self-identified “thieves,” are objects of foul language from those who are waiting for the “steamers” to leave, and for the latter to finally be able to do everything in their own way, of course, better. And while they wait, they sit on bath benches (reminiscent of bunks) and, sometimes even very maliciously, whisper about all this.
Fourthly, mutual assistance is situational. A woman who volunteers to wash your back (even sometimes a person you know before) can easily say nasty things about you or simply awkward details as soon as you cross the threshold of the steam room. You leave, and she remains in the forced conditions of a variety of conversations. Access to the body means nothing here.
Fifthly, there are always unconditional “others”. For example, heavily tattooed young ladies. Or girls with piercings. For Russian bath attendants they are still a curiosity, and I have never seen anyone talk to them. The second type of “others” are visitors to VIP rooms, with whom ordinary bath attendants share a common steam room (they enter the same steam room through a different door). They are called “these” and are remembered very often. “Well, did these guys show up today?” They are most often not allowed to control the temperature, and they rarely go out.
When you are in the locker room and the next woman leaves the bathhouse, she always says goodbye, says “thank you,” “enjoy your steam,” and smiles. She organizes hooded scarves for a very long time, as if this visit was unique for her and it is very difficult for her to leave this place. Today, for some reason, another woman said to me, “God bless you.” (By the way, sometimes women cross themselves before entering the steam room).
Well, of course, all this is done as if as a joke, as if just because you’re naked, you’re at home for a hundred years. And you also belong because you are a woman. And also, because this is all for an hour and a half. But I can imagine how it all turns into hysterical petty cruelty, stupid and merciless. And how it doesn’t turn out that way for men. This is the story.
There are several cases:
- For juvenile delinquents.
- For those under investigation.
- For convicts who are waiting for the stage.
- Women's corps.
- Medical unit.
- A heavily guarded housing facility for those sentenced to .
There are far fewer women prisoners than men, so there are not two buildings for them(convicts and prisoners), but they must be in different cells.
With minors under investigation there must be one in the cell adult convict. Usually, this is a person who has committed a minor crime, has gained favor with the administration and is allowed to serve his sentence here, in the detention center, playing the role of “bati” in the camera youngsters.
Medical unit
In the sanitary unit there are several chambers-cells, where, if necessary, "prisoners" receive medical care or inpatient treatment.
On certain days, doctors of different specialties are on duty in the medical unit: therapists, dermatologists, dentists, ophthalmologists.
Prisoners can make an appointment with paramedics in advance, who keep watch around the clock. Paramedic on duty, in case of deterioration of health, You can call the patient at any time. After the examination, he decides whether it is necessary to transfer the person to the ward or whether on-site manipulations will be sufficient.
In especially severe cases, severe deterioration of the condition, the paramedic shows hospitalization. After this, the security inspector transmits the request to the switchboard, where the shift supervisor calls ambulance and shapes convoy escort.
Daily routine and nutrition
Let's return to the regime in pre-trial detention centers. Half an hour after getting up, breakfast is brought to each building. Convicts who remain to serve their sentences in pre-trial detention centers work as cooks, distributors, cleaners, electricians and plumbers.
Breakfast, like lunch and dinner, consists of first and second courses, as well as tea. The first course is served with soup, cabbage soup or borscht, and the second course is porridge. In some detention centers the food is quite tolerable, in others it is worse.
If a person sick stomach, severely weakened immunity or any other indications are present, the doctor may prescribe a special diet.
Food for such prisoners is prepared separately. IN diet menu eggs, cottage cheese, milk, juices, chicken and beef are present. Often, “convicts” simply resort to tricks to get better soldering.
After breakfast, at 8 - 9 o'clock, the inspectors have a shift change. The inspectors who started work, led by the “corps” (chief for a particular building) bypass. During the walkthrough, all wishes, demands, complaints and requests are recorded. This could be: calling a plumber, electrician, repairing bunks, a bathroom, asking for another bed, etc. At this time, employees visually assess the condition of the prisoners..
The rest of the day is full of activities. Everyone does their job. Local operatives, lawyers, investigators coming from regional departments call prisoners for conversations or investigative actions. A team of local security guards accompanies them within the pre-trial detention center.
Outside the detention center (to courts, to colonies, to investigative experiments) another escort service accompanies you. Escorts those sentenced to life imprisonment (fawns) special, specialized group. The fighters are equipped with body armor and protective helmets.
Despite the daily routine in the pre-trial detention center, the cells can carry out scheduled and unscheduled searches (shmonas).
During this time, people are taken out of the cell to a special room - "sump", where they remain all the time until the search is over. Its purpose is to identify prisoners prohibited things:, drugs, money, notes from accomplices.
Walk and sauna
Every day is supposed to be spent an hour's walk on fresh air. Several cameras are alternately displayed in the exercise yards ( rooms with concrete walls, an iron door and bars instead of a ceiling).
You can refuse the walk, but if there is only one person willing from the whole cell, then he will not be taken, just like will not be left alone in the cell(someone else will have to stay for company, or cellmates will inspire desire to go for a walk).
The same goes for conclusions to the bathhouse. They happen once a week. Therefore, if someone refuses to go there and the rest need to choose someone who will stay with him, then his comrades very clearly explain to the unwilling person that cleanliness is the key to health.
All security inspectors must strictly follow instructions which reads: “Never, under any circumstances, should a prisoner be left alone in the cell" (punishment cell for imprisoning the accused) and punishment cell are not considered.
Transfers
The reception is held in a special room. First, a statement is written with a list of products and things, their quantity or weight. Then, in order of turn, when called, the relative comes to the window and gives the inspector the items on the list.
Many things "half" until it reaches its destination, so it’s better to pass it on piece, not weight products. A short list of items and products prohibited for transfer:
- alcohol;
- home-cooked food;
- perishable products (mayonnaise, ketchup). This is left over from earlier times, apparently. Today's mayonnaises have a huge shelf life;
- preservation in glass containers (can be put in a bag);
- homemade meat preparations;
- knives;
- stainless steel spoons;
- glass and porcelain dishes;
- laces, belts, ropes;
- deodorants;
- straight razors;
- disposable machines and needles are transferred conditionally. They are kept by the inspector, issued as needed and immediately collected.
Everything is carefully checked metal detectors, unpacked and cut. Sometimes some inspectors miss homemade food and preparations in the transfer. Naturally for a present.
"Little Girl"
There is constant access to the room psychological relief, where you can sit alone with yourself, listen music or chat with psychologist. There is an opportunity to go to the bathhouse every day.
The rules in the pre-trial detention center are such that there is almost no chaos in the cells- this is being monitored "bati". They treat this duty with zeal, since for any Emergency in the entrusted “hut”, he will suffer the most. The warden, at most, will be reprimanded and deprived of his bonus, but the “father” will be sent to prison to serve out his sentence in a colony. And in criminal the world really doesn't like those who works for the administration and getting to your destination in good health will be problematic.
End of the working day
In the evening, traffic in the detention center subsides. The first unit and the administration go home, leaving only the duty shift. Prisoners who left for trials return to their cells. The inspector delivers mail and picks up letters prepared for mailing. Prisoners give letters to unsealed envelopes. The housekeeping service collects garbage in the cells and the time comes dinner. Then leisure time. You can watch TV, listen to music, lie down.
The charter states that daytime prisoners cannot lie on their bunks, watch TV, or sleep. They must sit. Naturally, no one adheres to such an order..
Lights out
Zeki shouting at each other, calling on mobile phones(received in a transfer or brought by employees for a separate fee), using long ropes (“horses”, “roads”) are transferred from cell to cell various items(phones, cigarettes, notes or just food). This bacchanalia continues until the morning. At dawn, the prisoners, tired of their work, go to bed.
Useful video
You can learn a few more points about the regime in the pre-trial detention center from the video below:
There are six women’s colonies in Kazakhstan, the total number of women and girls serving sentences as of August 1 of this year is 2,901. The women’s correctional colony UG-157/11 in the city of Atyrau opened three years ago, with a total of 234 prisoners from four regions. Vox Populi correspondents visited a women's colony to tell and show readers how they live in penal colony and who they are – the women whom the court deprived of their freedom.
1. All women’s colonies in the country - general regime, except for the colony in Karaganda, where “walkers” (prison slang) are kept - women who have been repeatedly convicted
2. Twice a day, convicts gather on the parade ground for inspection. Absence is considered a gross violation, for which you can be sent to a punishment cell. Such a note in the personal file is undesirable, as it affects parole and transfer to a settlement colony
3. After the check, all women go to their workplaces or squads. White scarves are a mandatory part of the uniform
4. The conditions of stay in UG-157/11 are as close as possible to a standard women's dormitory. Five squads, each containing approximately 50 women, are housed in their own blocks. In each block, in addition to the bedrooms, there is a common teahouse, a storeroom, and a guest room. There is a common bathhouse, laundry and ironing room
5. Four women live in each room. According to the charter, they have no right to sit or lie down on the bed from nine in the morning to seven in the evening. It's austere here and smells of bleach
6. Each detachment has its own foreman, an authoritative person who knows how to eliminate internal conflict situations and maintain peaceful coexistence among several dozen women with difficult fates and characters. Brigadiers of detachments or, more simply put, “bugs” are people with untouchable authority. The foreman has a deputy, an orderly (sanitary troika), a foreman-orderly, assistants responsible for the storeroom, the kitchen, the teahouse and the leisure and sports section (SDS)
7. In the relaxation room, prisoners can be alone with themselves. Three psychologists constantly monitor the well-being of prisoners. Each convict receives an individual approach. In the zone emotional condition women are extremely unstable
8. In the evenings, women gather in front of the TV. They watch news and TV series, the most popular ones being Turkish. It should be noted that the smooth life of the colony largely depends on the attitude of the convicted women themselves. The paintings on the walls were done by the prisoners themselves.
9. Kapterka. One convict was released today. The employees escorted her to the station. The head of the zone contacted the Aktobe Center for Adaptation and Rehabilitation of Convicts and asked for help with accommodation and employment. Despite loud laughter and joy, the liberated woman feels anxiety and notes of fear: “How will everything turn out in the wild?”
10. The most popular product in the zone is payphone cards. Prisoners may not see their loved ones for years, since many women’s families live in neighboring regions, and it is not always financially possible to come long term date. And that’s why they keep in touch via phone. But there is a limit to such conversations. Each convicted person has the right to 15 minutes telephone conversation in a day
11. Convicts are completely supported by the state. In addition, they have transmissions from relatives. They can buy everything they need at a local store once a month. Cigarettes are second in importance. Almost everyone smokes, regardless of age and position. They don’t quit here, they start smoking here. There is no other way to calm down
12. Here, in the zone, there is a special atmosphere - sincerity or falsehood is immediately determined. Women stick together in “families”; family members are not offended. The head of the family is the queen, the rest are princesses
13. The sauna block works almost every day. The administration met the prisoners halfway and allowed them to equip a shower room in the detachments themselves
15. Washing and ironing units are well equipped
16. Medical unit. Almost every second woman has serious illnesses
17. Hall of the quarantine block on the second floor. Now only one woman is undergoing adaptation. After arriving at the facility, the prisoner spends 15 days in the quarantine department. Psychologists, doctors, and the educational department immediately begin working with her, after which she is transferred to one of the units on a normal regime, where she remains for six months. It differs from the facilitated one in that meetings take place once every three months. In the light mode there are more privileges - permission for monthly broadcasts, a visit lasting up to 3 days every two months, there are incentive meetings and broadcasts
18. Despite the spacious dining room, each squad enters at its own time
20. When we were filming in the dining room, one woman, leaving, shouted: “Come more often, they will feed us better,” and another added: “The food is normal, you can’t please everyone here and they bring us parcels, you’ve seen full refrigerators, haven’t you?”
21. The smell of fresh bread goes far beyond the bakery. In colony UG-157/11 they bake the best bread among all zones of the country
22. The chief baker, Ira, also worked in a bakery when she was free. Baking bread is her calling
23. According to the baker, the secret of delicious bread is in good first-grade flour from the Kostanay region and in the humane, conscientious attitude of the bakers
24. Ira and her six assistants hand over 1,000 rolls of bread per shift, providing for their own and the neighboring men’s colony
25. Baker is one of the most prestigious and paid jobs in the colony. The chief baker receives 23,000 tenge
26. Every second woman has a debt to the state - claims, state fees, legal costs. Therefore, many people are interested in getting paid work. The administration is constantly working on the issue of employment among convicts; of all prisoners, only 60 women work. They plan to open a fish shop in the colony soon
27. There is a small sewing workshop for 34 women, in which clothes are sewn for prisoners in male colonies. They also do not refuse third-party orders: overalls for hospitals, for oil companies. In addition, there are detachments of household service workers with a salary of 21,000 tenge - kitchen workers, janitors, team leaders, bath and laundry workers, librarians
28. There is a college at the correctional facility that provides training in such specialties as seamstress-cutter, pastry chef, cook, and hairdresser. This year, 87 convicts were awarded diplomas
29. The prison library is constantly updated, there is an agreement on this with the state library
30. The demand for books is high - almost everyone reads, mostly fiction
31. A few books on religious topics. This year, 60 women initially kept the fast, but due to the hot summer (air conditioning and fans are not allowed), only 30 remained fasting
32. In the colony there is a sports and leisure section (SRL), which includes a library, acrobatics courses and, of course, the organization of cultural events. This institution hosts the best and most costumed concerts among all zones
33. The foreman of the first detachment Bibigul, which includes the SSD, admits that a lot of effort was invested to achieve such a level of the show. The administration willingly meets halfway, gives the opportunity to train, allocates money, provides training videos
36. Prisoners make costumes and decorations with their own hands; they can sew ball gowns from ribbons and pieces
37. In the evenings they play intellectual game"Field of Dreams"
38. In the SSD there are several girls whose sports and dance abilities meet the requirements of the section
39. Olga - physical trainer (organizer of physical education work) and dance director of the SSD, age - 32 years. Article 259 – drugs.
She served more than seven years. There are 2 years and 10 months left until the call. He doesn’t like to talk about his personal life. In another institution she was a persistent offender, so she was not granted parole. Here, in UG – 166/11 – she the right person, master - golden hands: electrician, carpenter and specialist in welding and installation work. I learned all this in the zone
40. In addition, Olga successfully leads the acrobatics section
41. Katya does acrobatics and dancing at SSD. Age 32 years. Article 259 – drugs. Term – 11 years, served 4 years 4 months.
In Aktau, where she lived, she had her own small clothing store. She and her friend often flew to Turkey to buy goods. Then I decided to bring ecstasy tablets, not for sale, but for personal use. Now her two daughters are left in the care of their 63-year-old retired mother. The last time she saw them was two and a half years ago; the mother does not have the opportunity to bring her daughters on a long-term date. Now she only sees in photographs how her daughters are growing up. Katya clearly understood that not a single pleasure in life is worth exchanging for the opportunity to raise her own children. In three years she hopes to be granted parole. After her term ends, she wants to devote herself to her daughters. In the colony, correspondence with convicted men is not uncommon. But Katya no longer wants to start a relationship. There, in freedom, everything is simpler. A person loved you, loved you, and then stopped loving you, but this disappointment is difficult to bear even in freedom. And here, in the zone, no matter how a wolf howls, there is nothing to cover the emptiness. Therefore, she suppressed all feminine feelings in herself and dreams only of seeing her children more often - at least once every six months
42. The approximate age of the colony administration employees is from 20 to 30 years. 90% is women's team As a rule, the majority are unmarried. Constantly being busy at work does not allow many people to take care of their personal lives.
43. Team leader Botagoz Nurkhanova, 28 years old. It has been working since the opening of the colony.
“When I first came to work here, I thought: “What am I doing here?” It was really scary,” says Botagoz. “The turning point happened when I had to provide moral support to one prisoner. Then you realize that they are ordinary women who just need understanding
44. Prisoners address Botagoz with the word “mother”, which is how all squad leaders are symbolically called. Of all the administration employees, the detachment chiefs are closest to the prisoners. Together with the foreman, he coordinates and monitors compliance with the regime. Communication between “mothers” and prisoners in this zone is primarily of a human nature. The broken female fate of some prisoners evokes sympathy and understanding among their guards. Over time, you practically have to live with the problems of your charges, write their characteristics, and present them in court. “Moms” are the link between convicts and senior officers
45. The administration petitions and writes positive characteristics for convicts with exemplary behavior. But, nevertheless, the last word always remains with the judge. Many do not go through the courts, there are enough reasons for this: outstanding debts, absence, or vice versa, a large number of incentives, short term of imprisonment, serious criminal records. The most common judicial response is: “How is it different from other convicts?”
46. The main articles under which women end up here: 259 - sale, storage and distribution of drugs, 177 - fraud and 96 - domestic murder, and much less often, infanticide
47. In the photograph is a copy of an SMS from the partner of one of the convicts; he sent these messages to her on the day of the trial. The girl took the blame for her boyfriend on herself, at first she acted as an accomplice. As a result, he serves 5 years for apartment fraud. The convict admits her guilt, but while inside the walls of the colony she is trying to get the person who pushed her to commit fraud to be imprisoned.
48. Prisoners have the right to visits: short-term visits for two or four hours and long-term visits for three days. There is also the opportunity to see convicts on an open day
49. The controller in the inspection and visiting room (KDS) Gulim Kushenova accepts documents from a man who came for a long-term date with his wife
“Most often they visit convicts – Kazakh women,” says Gulim. – They come with children and relatives. Bring food, clothes, cleaning supplies
50. At the entrance to the women’s colony there is a stand with photographs of things prohibited for transfer.
51. The hall of the meeting place is a room without a hint of gloom. All furniture - cabinets, tables - is made right there, without leaving the area. Those who come and are convicted are provided with all conditions for long date: separate room, kitchen, living room, shower
52. Nina Petrovna, age 61 years. Article 259 – drugs. Duration: 10 years. Served 1 year and six months.
Her husband and granddaughter came to see her for the first time in a year and a half. She has proven herself to be exceptionally good in the zone. She underwent several heart surgeries. There is no hope of leaving the colony alive. There were suicide attempts
53. “My son is serving a sentence under the same article,” says Nina Petrovna. “After the DEA officers began beating him during the investigation, I began to write numerous complaints and statements to stop the bullying. They threatened me that if I didn’t stop, I would soon also end up behind bars. I continued writing and soon the police “accidentally” found several grams of heroin on my bed... That’s how I ended up here. I tried to kill myself, but they stopped me. No, don’t think about it, the conditions here and the attitude of the administration are normal, but it’s psychologically difficult for me
54. Raima, age 40 years. Article 259 - drugs. Term 10 years, served 3 years and 2 months.
“Nine years ago my husband died,” says Raima. – I was left with three small children, my youngest daughter was 8 months old, her parents are retired. I was the only breadwinner in the family. A few years later I got together with a man. He helped with money and with housework - we had our own cattle. Then I decided to expand the grocery store. I sold the store and started construction, but did not receive the promised bank loan. So I was left without business and income. She began selling fruit in the yard, and meanwhile her partner started selling heroin. The partner was given 10 years strict regime, I was imprisoned for complicity
55. “I was able to visit my mother for the second time in three years,” says Alima, eldest daughter Raima. — As soon as my contract with the company ended, I immediately brought the younger ones for a long-term date with my mother
56. Alima works as a defect manager in a furniture store. With a salary of 60,000 tenge, Alima is now the sole breadwinner of the family. She recently prepared younger brother and my sister to school, bought clothes and stationery. She wants to return to Aktyubinsk to be closer to her family and visit her mother more often. Alima is worried about her mother’s health - her vision rapidly deteriorated in the zone - it became minus twenty, and tuberculosis was also discovered. She answers questions about her personal life evasively; she decided not to be friends or get married until her mother is free
57. This year, the transfer of those convicted of especially serious crimes to colony settlements was cancelled. Mothers of many children who have committed domestic murder or women forced into drug trafficking will serve their entire sentence away from their children, who are often in the care of elderly grandparents or in orphanages. So they are most likely to be paroled after serving 2/3 of the term
58. Vera, age 30 years. Article 96 – murder. Term 6 years, served 2 years, 9 months.
She got married and gave birth to daughters. They lived happily and well, but soon her husband began to abuse her, and for seven years she endured his difficult character. The daughters, seeing their drunken father, immediately went to bed, they were so afraid of him. The husband, when intoxicated, was extremely cruel, he could grab his daughters or Vera and slam his head against the wall, hit him with any object that came to hand. He threatened me with an ax, kicked me, and kicked me out of the house. He even beat his relatives - he raised his hand against his mother. It all ended with a knife to the heart. Moreover, Vera does not remember how it happened, she wants to remember under hypnosis. The children were left in the care of their sick mother. The injured party has no claims. Vera wrote to the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, filed a petition to the President - all to no avail so far
59. Nadezhda, age 24 years. Article 96 – murder. Term 11 years, served 3 years, 1 month.
She lived and worked as a nanny in Astana, studying to become an accountant. Then, due to financial difficulties, she moved to a small village in the Aktobe region. One day we were walking with friends, decided to continue the fun and went home to a new acquaintance - a man retirement age. In the morning, when everyone fell asleep, he began to pester her and raped her. Being extremely intoxicated, she became very frightened, began to resist, grabbed a knife from the table and struck ten times. She called the police herself. She admitted her guilt sincerely. During the investigation, I found out that I was pregnant. She decided to leave, now her son is 2 years old. He was taken in and raised by his unemployed mother, who does not have the opportunity to come for a long-term visit. Nadezhda often talks to her son on the phone; he addresses her by name and thinks that she is his sister. She works in the zone as a seamstress-cutter. Having paid off all claims, he sends the money he earned home. He repents and knows that he deserves punishment. Hopes to be transferred to a colony-settlement at his place of residence
60. Mahabbat, age 22 years. Article 180 – accessory to rape. The term was 6 years of strict regime, given the age of the convicted person, she was transferred to general security. She served three years.
I was walking in the evening with my friend in noisy company. After some time, heavily intoxicated, she left, but her friend remained - the result was gang rape. Besides her, 5 people are involved in the case. Mahabbat was accused of pimping for forcibly taking the victim out of the house. The victim then gave birth to a daughter, she was handed over to Orphanage. Mahabbat dreams of becoming a photographer
61. Marina. 41 years old. Article 96 - domestic murder. Duration – 6 years. Served 3 years, 3 months.
They gave me a short term because the injured party had no complaints. We lived with our second husband for ten years. He drank constantly, did not work, and beat her and the children. And during the next scandal, Marina took two knives and stabbed him simultaneously in the heart and liver. He died on the spot. Marina’s two children, her son is 17 years old and her daughter is 11 years old, live with her brother and daughter-in-law
62. Tamara, 32 years old. Article 96 – murder. Term - 9 years, served 7 years.
The husband drank and abused for seven years. One day a drunk arrived and a quarrel broke out. She was standing with her one-year-old son in her arms, he hit her and hit her son in the ear. The shell of the ear burst, blood sprayed onto the wall. Then Tamara grabbed a knife and plunged it into her husband’s heart. Her parents received guardianship over her three children - daughters 12 and 5 years old, and a son 3 years old. I haven't seen my children for the last two years. For the sake of incentives, he works as a dishwasher in a canteen, wants to get parole
63. Zarina acrobat SSD. Age 25 years. Article 96 – murder. Duration - 8 years. Served 4 years.
Pupil of Aktobe orphanage. I was first “closed” at the age of 17. I wanted to earn money by transporting drugs to Russia. She served there for three years. When she was free, she fell in love with a guy and started dating him. At his birthday party, he accidentally killed his neighbor in a fight while drinking alcohol. She came out of the bathroom, and in the room there was already a corpse lying in a pool of blood. The guy shouted at her to run away, but she didn’t do it, she decided to be with him to the end. Then the police and ambulance arrived. She made a sincere confession. She took all the blame upon herself, her beloved asked - so he told her, women get a shorter sentence, and I’ll wait for you... But the last time she saw him was in the courtroom. In the colony, she acquired the skills of a seamstress-machine operator and a mechanic/adjuster. She also dances at a local club and is the best acrobat. Now she has only one dream left - to visit Paris and look at the Eiffel Tower.
