Prisoners are kept in distinct sectors to prevent them from sharing items and ideas with other groups. For example, prisoners convicted of terrorism charges (mainly from Chechnya) are kept together in one sector.
Max Avdeev and Julia Ioffe have shared several photos on News Republic that capture the lives of prisoners inside a Russian gulag—a prison camp for political prisoners.
Located in Yertsevo, the ‘K-28’ is a “maximum-security Russian penal colony”, which houses over “1,000 prisoners, many of whom were convicted on murder or terrorism charges”.
According to Avdeev—who shot the photos in 2010—he said that most of them had “killed two or more people”.
The photos show prisoners going about their daily lives—from working in kitchens to chopping down trees in a forest.
“We thought we’d show you what Russian penal colonies look like,” said Ioffe. “This is one of the harsher ones.”
Check out the photos below:
A young rabbi from Moscow leads a ceremony with Jewish prisoners. Prison authorities tolerate all religions, figuring that a practicing prisoner is less trouble than an idle one.
A roll call is taken three times a day.
Prisoners return to their sectors after dining.
The prison and environs in winter. Guards are allowed to shoot an escaping prisoner after he has crossed the middle wooden fence.
A prisoner working in the kitchen.
This prisoner, convicted of killing two people, chops wood.
This inmate was allowed to keep his mustache after proving that it was a part of his family heritage dating back to the 16th century.
This inmate oversees the prison's Russian Orthodox church, which is attended by about 30 inmates.
The sign reads, "Every employee is a teacher and a controller."
A prayer room for Muslims.
This prisoner runs the library.
Workers return to their sector at night.
The prison barracks.
These prison guards are on a 2-hour, 25-kilometer trip for a shift change with guards at a colony-settlement of about 100 non-dangerous prisoners. It's about -31ºF outside, and around 10ºF inside the truck.
A prisoner hauls timber.
Guards form a perimeter, discouraging prisoners from making a run for it.
[via News Republic]