Time to read: 18 minutes(s)

In late September, staff at Primorsky Colony No. 10, located in the village of Gornoye, forcibly shaved 50 women. One woman was physically assaulted, allegedly due to lice. However, human rights activists received no medical evidence of pediculosis from the colony's management. After the situation became public, the colony's management claimed the women's heads were shaved with their consent. NeMoskva found and spoke with women serving their sentences at the colony. All of them describe unbearable conditions at the colony, primarily due to the actions of the administration. Two women spoke to us on condition of anonymity (their names have been changed) – one refused without explanation, while the other is currently in conflict with security forces over their refusal to open a criminal case. The third woman did not wish to conceal her identity. They have repeatedly filed complaints and appeals regarding the conditions at the colony with the prosecutor's office and public observers.

 Elena H. arrived at the penal colony in March 2019. She spent three years there and was assigned to a strict-security unit (SSU). She was beaten and placed in solitary confinement several times for minor infractions.

I arrived on March 22, 2019, as part of a transit camp. Lawlessness immediately erupted in the duty station: staff started destroying my personal belongings. They claimed the colony didn't have a storage facility for them. They told me to either send my things to my relatives or destroy them. I showed up wearing a fox fur vest; I had a 9-ruble suit. I refused, and they took me to the head of the operations department's office. Head of the operations department, Yevgeny Shtepa, said, "If you keep talking to us like that, you won't be serving time under normal conditions. You'll be going to the SUS prison to rest." I said, "I don't care anymore, and I won't let you destroy my personal belongings. Will you compensate me?" He replied, "No." We don't have a storage facility for personal belongings. I asked, "I wonder what to do with convicts whose only belongings are the ones they arrived in?" "How should they be released from the colony: in uniform? So everyone knows?" Then the prison staff thought that I was obviously not going to remain silent, and they told me that I had 15 days to pick up my personal belongings.

After the search, I was sent to quarantine. They introduced me to the quartermaster, and she started telling me that it would be difficult for me here with my personality. And that they would jerk me off here. And immediately, even though she was a fellow convict, she took cigarettes from the other women who had arrived with me. She said they would now smoke according to the rules. I got upset again and asked: is this a general prison colony or a maximum security one? And immediately the quartermaster called the detectives. I was summoned there again. And imagine what they did: they cut off my tag, turned on the recorder, and said that a convict had arrived without reporting or wearing any external markings. And she spoke inappropriately. Second violation. After the third, strict conditions.

I left quarantine and they started shuffling me from barrack to barrack. This went on for nine months. I'd only establish a relationship with one barrack and then they'd move me to another. One time, they almost accused me of disrupting the colony's work. I'm from Vladivostok and started talking to my fellow countrywomen. Colony staff, you have a walk-through courtyard, people gather there, and so on. And then back to another barrack.

One time, Yevgeny Shtepa and his co-workers beat me up. Do you know why? According to the internal regulations (IR), wearing wooden icons around your neck is allowed. The co-worker said, "Take them off." I didn't take them off, saying, "Icons and crosses are allowed." She started grabbing me and ripping off my icons. I started resisting and grabbing the co-worker's hands. They immediately grabbed me and took me to the supply room, where Shtepa and another guy named Molodenko were also there. And they beat me up. And all this while the recorder was rolling. They said that if I moved, it would be an attack on an officer. They hit me in the face with a baton, grabbed me. And they beat me so hard that there were no bruises. They didn't let me call home and tell them I'd been beaten. They immediately put me in the special security cell. And I sat there for the rest of my sentence. I even got released from the punishment cell.  

In the SUS, they don't give you anything at all. For example, you get a package of cigarettes. And the staff hands out cigarettes one by one. You smoke as many as they deem necessary. And if Warden Gritskova decides that no one else will smoke, then no one smokes. It's the same with manicure sets: if everyone in the unit behaves perfectly, they'll let you use them. Packages from home will be shredded. Or they'll decide you're not entitled to something and destroy it. For example, you're not entitled to smelt, and that's it. 

The conditions there, I repeat, were terrible. Women were forced to carry 50-kilogram sacks. In the heat. Some even fainted. And no one cared. There was nowhere to boil water because kettles and water heaters were banned. There was no hot water; they carried it down a chain. There was no room to wash or even wash clothes in the barracks. As soon as you washed in the unit instead of in the designated area, the quartermaster immediately picked up the phone and you were considered a violation. The food was terrible. It was cold and smelled terrible. Buying anything in the store was impossible, but they only allowed you to buy things there if no one was breaking the rules.

They just collected money from the prisoners. Supposedly for improvements. And they promised gratitude. The only gratitude was that they didn't lock you up in solitary confinement.

Whenever the commission from the Public Monitoring Commission or the prosecutor's office visited, the prison staff made sure they wouldn't enter my cell. I pounded on the door to get noticed. And I managed to get rid of those officers, including Shtepa, who had beaten me. Many were afraid to say anything, because if you opened your mouth, that would be it, your parole would be ruined. And the staff themselves wouldn't let the prisoners see the inspectors. They kept them outside, supposedly for a walk. And they told the inspectors that everyone had gone to their cells. Until someone spoke up, they'd say, "I'm here." And then there were the prison staff standing there with cameras rolling while you were talking to the Public Monitoring Commission, even though they weren't allowed to do so. And they recorded everything, even though it was prohibited. And if you wrote to the leadership of the regional Federal Penitentiary Service, Verstkin (head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for Primorsky Krai – editor's note) would tell you you were lying. That an inspection had been conducted at Penal Colony No. 10 and everything was fine. No violations were found. Tatyana Moskalkova even came to see us and said everything was fine. Everything was painted, and there were no cobwebs anywhere.

No violations were found, but they're still abusing you. For example, they give you clothes that are several sizes too big. If you alter them to fit yourself, that's a violation that lands you in solitary confinement. According to the rules, you could end up in solitary confinement for serious violations: finding a phone, alcohol, or drugs. And not for not having a badge, especially if the staff cut it off themselves.

Another convict, Oksana M., spent 4,5 years in the penal colony. She served her sentence in a regular unit, at one point even serving in a "positive" unit. No disciplinary action was taken against her, but she witnessed it being taken against other female convicts on numerous occasions.

— I didn't have any conflicts with the warden, Oksana Gritskova. But I know about a conflict with another prisoner, Marina Klach. She received a package from her daughter. And the colony staff simply cut the entire package up. And mixed everything up: noodles, condensed milk. She calls her daughter in tears and complains. And everything is bugged there. After that, Gritskova came to us. Oh my god, what did she say to us. About this Marina Klach, and about all of us. I don't know, maybe Gritskova hates all women. Here are her verbatim words: If I had my way, and they gave me a machine gun, I would shoot you all. Just shoot you. Whether there were a thousand of you, or two thousand, or three. I wasn't afraid of you, I'm not afraid, and I won't be afraid. 

One woman's brother once came to visit, and he was serving time in a maximum-security prison. He said, "We men don't have things like this here. For example, there's a downpour, hail, snow, heat—all the women stand on the parade ground for forty minutes during roll call. If something is announced over the megaphone, everyone stands on the parade ground. It's -30, -40, everyone stands on the parade ground. The women freeze, they get wet, and there's nowhere to dry their clothes afterwards. And there's nothing you can do." Although they could have checked the units. It was pure hell, how many women fainted there.

Before my release, I was transferred to the fifth detachment, and everyone there was positive. It's an elite detachment, the best place to get parole. All the girls there work in the sewing shop, working two shifts, which is prohibited. When the commission arrives, the girls are all sent back to the barracks. As soon as it leaves, everyone goes back to work. And the only things you can bring to work are five candies, a few cookies, and five cigarettes. The officers stand at the entrance to the sewing shop and search you. You might even bring a sixth candy.

The girls received their pay slips for their work, and they listed a salary of 31 rubles. But they only got 200 rubles in hand, sometimes even less. And sometimes they even went into the red. A girl named Sasha was sleeping above me, and one day she said to me, "Look, my pay slip says 31500 rubles, but I only get 68 rubles in hand." It's not even enough for a pack of tea. The girls started asking questions about the guy who ordered the goods from outside. And that man, I don't remember his last name, said he was giving me everything according to the pay slip. 31500 rubles. We never found out where the rest of the money was.

The administration believed there were a lot of things in the colony that weren't allowed. If you have white socks in the summer instead of black. If you have three T-shirts instead of two, you cut up the third one and write an explanatory note. If you have seven buttons on your jacket instead of six, that's a dress code violation. And you write an explanatory note. We were also given one sweater, but it had to be washed, and in the winter, where would you dry it except outside, and it's unclear how long it would take. And if you wore a fall jacket instead of a sweater, that was also a dress code violation. Or if you wore thermal underwear, it was allowed, but during the check before lights out, you didn't have time to tuck the sleeves into your robe, that's also a violation. One time, a nurse sent a woman thermal underwear. Black with pink inserts. And she was forced to cut up the new thermal underwear because of the pink inserts. And she did it, because she wasn't supposed to. You write an explanatory note for every little thing. They could order you to lift up your robe and show how many seams you have in your tights. If you have two, you write an explanatory note. If winter hasn't arrived, you're not allowed to wear gloves. They confiscate your gloves, and you write an explanatory note.

I was also in charge of the medical unit. There were no pills, and it was impossible to see a doctor. To get a regular paracetamol, you had to go around begging for it for a week. I had a mini-stroke myself, and I couldn't get an appointment with a doctor. You know what they told me: there's a first time for everything. Get used to it. What's there to get used to? At least tell me what I have, give me some medicine. Thanks to the children, they sent me medicine.

The food there was disgusting. They fed us green cutlets, as anyone who served time there would confirm. Once, before some inspection, they pulled bags of meat out of the cafeteria. And worms were crawling behind them. They buried the meat somewhere in the industrial zone, and the camp reeked of rottenness for several days. But hundreds of women in the camp were still poisoned. They vomited, and the only medicine they had was salt water..

Before Gritskova, there was another warden, Maksimov. He allowed prisoners to use kettles and microwaves (those with money could order food from the cafeteria). Gritskova took everything. And said she'd give us a gift for New Year's and return everything. But no one ever returned anything, and where it all went is unknown. We still had kettles, but they were confiscated during every search. And there were only three kettles for a 100-person unit. How are you supposed to drink that tea? When you only have an hour to eat?

There were problems with the bathhouse too. Ten taps only produced either cold or boiling water. If you decided to wash yourself in boiling or cold water, that was it, you were considered done. You were given forty minutes to do everything: wash and do laundry. Only the supply officers were allowed to wash in the unit.

I'll tell you, this colony is a real concentration camp. When I went there, I saw women in robes and white headscarves carrying slag from the boiler room. And they're filling the pits with it. They're carrying these boulders with their bare hands. Another officer tells them to dig a hole in one place, another comes and says, "Why did you dig a hole here? Dig somewhere else." And they stand there and laugh. They're just making fun of them.  

They simply hate everyone. One time, women in the industrial zone made a flowerbed and planted flowers there for themselves. They'd received seeds from outside. It was one of the girls' birthdays, and they decided to give her a bouquet. One of the colony employees, Marina Alekseyevna, came toward these women with the bouquet, and guess what? They got themselves sent to solitary confinement. They said the flowerbed belonged to the colony and the prisoners had no right to pick flowers. I wouldn't recommend this colony to my worst enemy.

The third former prisoner is Natalia Lipchinskaya. She spent three and a half years in the Primorsky penal colony. She was placed in solitary confinement due, as she puts it, to provocation by prison staff. She even tried to challenge the decision to place her in solitary confinement in court, but lost. The only good thing she got out of the colony was rescuing a cat and kitten.

— My first shock was when they gave us clothes upon arrival. I'm a size 48, and the girls with me were size 44. And they gave us all sizes 54-58. And men's shoes, size 42. Regardless of foot size. I immediately cut my feet until they bled. And back then, when I arrived as a prisoner, the head of the colony was a man, but he later left, and we were allowed to keep some of our personal belongings. I later wore them to court during the appeal hearings in my case. Now, as far as I know, when girls arrive, they tear apart their belongings right before their eyes. Bags, suitcases, clothes. They leave nothing for them.

I've never had any connection with prison, unless you count my grandfather and great-grandfathers, who were deported for being Polish. For me, anything connected to the penal colony was something so transcendent and terrifying. I thought a penal colony was supposed to reform, but it doesn't reform; it breaks you. That's the whole system built on that. That you're just a bug, and they can do whatever they want with you.

You know, the warden of the colony, Oksana Gritskova, rarely did anything herself; all her hangers-on did it for her. The so-called "active members." And these active members, in order to gain privileges, were ready to carry out any dirty task. There was a punishment there called "smuggling someone through the supply room." They would drag someone into this supply room, where their belongings and food were stored, and beat them up with the entire active group. And I once stood up for someone who was being beaten. After that, they started transferring me from unit to unit. I never stayed in any unit for long. I never violated discipline, not because I was such a model person. Because I'm an adult, there's a regime, and I don't violate it.

But I ended up in solitary confinement. I didn't admit my guilt, and they tried to break me. I received my first reprimand under such circumstances. I'm a pensioner, and there are a lot of pensioners in the colony. And they started calling us to collect our pensions. According to the rules, we should arrive one at a time, but they called us in a crowd. We lined up in a chain and went in one by one. Then the prosecutor arrived for an inspection, and my friend and I were standing there. And she said: we need to see him. She went to the duty station to find out if the prosecutor would be available for personal matters. I waited for her, but she still didn't show up. So I went to the duty station too. And it turned out she was writing an explanatory note, since she came in without being called. Well, they caught me too. Also without being called. It's not in the staff's interests for us to go to the prosecutor. 

Incidentally, that was when I first encountered Gritskova, the head of the colony. We were all at the administrative commission. Besides her, there were members of the Public Monitoring Commission there. I said, "Oksana Viktorovna, there was no violation. You're taking revenge on me for not admitting my guilt." And she just started yelling at me. Her face contorted, and she sent me to solitary confinement. She also said—I learned this when I challenged the decision—that I had left the unit without permission. It wasn't them who called me to collect my pension, but I myself. I couldn't challenge it.

When the prosecutor or the Public Monitoring Commission came to see us, it was impossible to get through to them. We tried by any means necessary to get in. Because they'd send someone from the activist group there to ask questions like, "When will they build a church for us?" or "When will the gynecologist come?" Basically, they'd pick someone who collaborated with the administration to ask such stupid questions.

They're not afraid of anyone there at all. There was a recent outrageous case where women had their heads shaved. I witnessed the same thing happen, a woman had her head shaved just because she lay next to someone who was supposedly found to have lice. The activists themselves imprisoned her. The administration doesn't dirty its hands with this.

The food they gave us was edible. There's a term in the colony: "not heated." These are prisoners who aren't heated. Those with no relatives, no pensions, or other benefits. They're forced to eat what they're given to keep from starving. They fed us rusty herring and meatballs that smelled like urine. This rusty herring was called "cemetery." They'd boil it, scoop it up with a ladle, put it on a plate, and find only bones. There wasn't even any rusty meat, so it was called "cemetery." They also fed us cabbage in iron barrels. The girls would dump this cabbage into the bathtub and fill it with water to let it settle. Because the cabbage was all blue-green from mold. The stench from the cabbage was so bad that no one from the administration went near the cafeteria.  

You were given 40 minutes to wash and do your laundry. You had to undress quickly and grab the faucet. Imagine, 30-40 people came to wash, and only six faucets were working. After one of my complaints to the Public Monitoring Commission, they fixed the faucets and reduced them to 10. The faucets would either pour ice-cold water or boiling hot. And you didn't have time to adjust the faucet, no. The same thing with laundry. You had to wash your bed linens and whatever you were wearing in 40 minutes. It was impossible. I had to pay another prisoner to do my laundry.

Natalia also told the story of the cat and kitten she was able to take out of the prison colony after her release. We're sharing it separately.

— There were cats in the colony. By hook or by crook, permission to keep them was obtained. But killing cats was also encouraged. So, one of the cats gave birth to kittens, and one of the kittens—a girl—was taken by girls from the bakery. They dropped something on her and broke her spine. Somehow she recovered, and the girls quietly fed her. Since she was a young cat, her spine healed. Just when she recovered, after some time, something was dropped on her again. They recovered again. Then the bakery closed, and no one wanted the cat. So she started wandering around the zone and going into the control and tracking strip (KSP – ed.), and every time, the alarm went off. The women from the administration decided to catch her and do something with her. And the cat was already pregnant. And I said, “I’m leaving soon, let’s hide her, I’ll take her with me.” We started hiding her, she lived with us first in the ninth detachment, then in the tenth. One day, and I don’t go outside in the evenings, something pulled me, I went out and saw: the cat was thrown out of the tenth. And she crawled under a bush, and I can’t go and get her. There are cells there, you take a step and that’s it, in the pre-trial detention center. I call and call for her, she crawls towards me. I grabbed her and ran to my place. As soon as I sat down on the bed, she grabbed my hand and started to kitten. She screamed, everything in her was broken. The whole detachment gathered, they put out an attack. And you understand, she’s so smart, as if she understands everything. In an hour, she gave birth to five kittens. We hid her and the kittens in a box. And that was it, lights out. In the morning, the storekeeper came and took four kittens, we were allowed to keep one. And we hid the cat for a whole month. Then, a girl who had a good relationship with the task force was able to obtain a permit to take her cat and kitten out of the prison. My last name wasn't on it, otherwise they wouldn't have allowed it. When I left, they searched me for a long time. Two and a half hours. I had a lot of paperwork related to my case with me. They checked it, and some of it was taken away. At the very last moment, a girl came running and brought me a bag with the cat and kitten. The prison staff were absolutely stunned; they even had a permit. And that's how I left, with the cat and kitten. The cat's name is Matilda Semyonovna.