Castes and hierarchy in prison: What those serving sentences need to know

Modern hospitals are quite safe and generally try to help the sick. Large hospitals separate patients by age and severity of condition. In general, in the department of neuroses, for the most part, there are adequate ordinary people. In the acute department there can be tough things.

They stay in the hospital from a week to two months (very rarely longer). If you are hospitalized at your own request, you can be discharged at any time! Read the law on psychiatric care in Russia.

About medications. We can talk about medications for a long time, I’ll write in detail sometime, but briefly: almost all antidepressants and tranquilizers cause addiction, but it’s quite possible to get off them! Medicines do not cure anxiety, or depression, or delirium, they relieve an acute condition and help you come to your senses so that you can figure out with a more or less fresh mind how you will continue to save yourself (spoiler: psychotherapy). Patients with severe diagnoses often take medications throughout their lives (schizophrenia, MDP, resistant depression). Patients with less dire diagnoses take antidepressants the longest (from three months, usually a year). Medicines sometimes work right away (lucky ones), usually they are selected, changed, and the dose is adjusted - this is very individual.

In the first week in the hospital, you will most likely be pumped full of antipsychotic drugs and you will sleep a lot, this is useful, the brain reboots and rests. Closer to discharge, your dose will be reduced and many will come out quite cheerful!

I think that being treated in a hospital is a good option:

There is an opportunity to sleep as long as you like.
There is no need to worry about daily matters.
Medicines are selected by observing the dynamics every day, this is convenient for the doctor and you.
You don’t need to buy different drugs and waste money on unsuitable ones in the end; after discharge, buy only what is definitely suitable.
You will be examined by related specialists and will take blood and urine tests.
A mental hospital is an existential place, you will think about life in a new way.
It is possible to visit a psychotherapist for free.

I'll name the downsides:

Almost always there are really bad living conditions: toilets have no doors and people smoke in them, the food is not tasty, leaving the territory is limited (you need permission to leave from a doctor), sharp objects and razors are strictly prohibited in the acute department, in the neurosis department they are issued upon request. medical post.
Hospitalism is an addiction to doctors and the hospital regime; patients may begin to fear being left without the supervision of doctors.
Stigmatization is when a label is attached that a person who has been treated by a psychiatrist, much less spent time in a hospital, is a psycho, abnormal, not like that. Often the patient himself begins to consider himself as such - this is self-stigmatization.

Notable Features:

There are no forks and knives in the dining room, so as not to provoke intrusiveness or aggressive actions.
All doors (except the doors to the wards) are opened with a special key, which only the staff has.
Doctors make rounds once a week: a group of doctors walks through the wards and talks with each patient, this is a whole event for patients and nurses.
You can contact your doctor at any time if you find one. Some doctors even give you their phone number and you can chat with them on WhatsApp about your symptoms.
Medicines are taken on time, lining up, like in the movies.
You can go for walks with the doctor’s permission, you can see relatives, you can use telephones (but not in all departments).

About the worst:

Patients are not turned into zombies; large doses of drugs simply suppress activity and attention, but with decreasing dosages, activity returns.
Psychotropic medications are not drugs, although they can cause addiction, like many other medications (blood pressure reducers, for example). Many patients have withdrawal syndrome, but it can be tolerated and the condition returns to normal.
Some patients who are particularly resistant to drugs are given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), where a current is sent to the brain. But it is not painful (anesthesia) and not dangerous, certainly not more dangerous than suicide from depression. I know people who have had these procedures and they are fine!
No one will report to your work that you were treated in a mental hospital or a psychiatric hospital, unless the entry on the sick leave sheet gives you away.

How things work in a psychiatric hospital

— I am in a psychiatric hospital with depression. There are many people here with the same diagnosis. There is a huge aquarium in the corridor. The girl from the next room buried her face in him, was silent for a long time and said: “Fish... ******** [good] for you, fish,” - this is how Tatyana begins her story.

This tweet received more than 11 thousand likes and reposts and inspired the girl to create a whole thread about treatment in a psychiatric hospital - in the department of nervous disorders.

The first stereotype that Tatyana debunks concerns safety. No violent patients or straitjackets like in the movies.

- It's safe here. Everyone on my ward suffers from depression and anxiety. All sad, but not dangerous. There was only one case in a month when a dude was kicked out of the men's ward for masturbating on his neighbors. Apparently, he was jealous of the success of their therapy,” writes Tatyana.

The second stereotype is that treatment for depression in a clinic necessarily costs a fortune. Actually this is not true. The state pays for a month of hospital stay.

— I am at the institute named after. Bekhterev in St. Petersburg. The first visit to a psychotherapist is free of charge. If he says that you need to go to bed, you can choose paid hospitalization or budget. I'm on a budget. The state pays for a month of stay. While you are in the hospital, everything is free. Further visits to the doctor are paid, says Tatyana

But the food, as in many Russian hospitals, is very bad. But it's free.

“The food here is simply terrible.” It's impossible to eat. Make some friends before you come here. So that someone would bring normal food,” writes Tanya.

The third stereotype is that you cannot use technology and leave the territory. Actually this is not true. Tatyana emphasizes that the conditions of hospitalization depend on the diagnosis.

— They don’t take away equipment here. Visits are allowed every day. You are not put in a straitjacket. You are free to leave the area. We have depression, not schizophrenia. We want to kill ourselves, not others. Everyone understands that if you take away our phones, we will do it even faster,” Tatyana writes. “It’s quiet, calm and unbearably boring here.” So before you go to bed, subscribe to Netflix and load up on books. Then you will say thank you.

But the place where the hospital is located really does not contribute much to recovery.

— It’s very gloomy on the hospital grounds. Bare trees, gray buildings with bars, a huge pile of crows. Through their croaking one can hear: “You are a nonentity.” Force yourself to get out into the city at least once a week,” the girl writes.

How to behave when registering

In thieves' jargon, "registration" is the name given to the ritual of welcoming new prisoners. When a newcomer enters the cell, other convicts take a closer look at him in order to assess his “status”, determining the range of rights and responsibilities. In modern realities, “registration” is used less and less among adult criminals. Most often, this method is used by minors and persons held in pre-trial detention centers.

Nevertheless, the entire future fate of the prisoner may depend on the first impression. To avoid being left behind, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

Basic politeness. When entering a cell, you should say hello to the prisoners. However, you should not use phrases like: “Hello everyone!”, because communicating with the “lowered” is prohibited. While the newcomer does not know who the prisoners in the cell are, he should use this greeting option: “Greetings people.”
Caution. At first, you should carefully choose your social circle. If a newcomer unknowingly starts talking to a “diver” or another “low-down”, he may subsequently join their number.
Hygiene. After going to the toilet, you must wash your hands. Prisoners keep an eye on these little things.
You should not touch other people's things. There is always a risk that the item belongs to an "omitted" item, which can lead to certain problems. In addition, convicts may believe that the newcomer attempted to steal from his own people.
At first, you should communicate with your cellmates with restraint, avoiding swear words. Prison jargon has changed many terms, so it will be possible to communicate freely only after the prisoner has mastered the basic nuances of the criminal vocabulary.

Thus, only those who have maliciously violated prison rules become “let go.” After receiving such status, the prisoner will not be able to rehabilitate himself.

How is treatment and therapy carried out?

Many people do not understand what therapy looks like in a public clinic. Firstly, this is working with a psychotherapist.

- In a hospital, surrounded by depressed people - how will this help? Here you work with a psychotherapist every two days. The tablets are free here. You don’t have to look for money, which is also very reassuring. It’s better to treat yourself under the supervision of doctors while surrounded by sad people than to get drunk surrounded by happy people,” says the girl.

Secondly, this is drug treatment.

— Pills do not destroy your personality. During depression, you don’t even have the strength to get out of bed, let alone go to therapy. Pills don't cure depression. Pills are needed to artificially support a person. To have strength for therapy. It's like a depressive Theraflu. It simply relieves symptoms,” says Tanya.

At the same time, serious work is being done inside a person; defeating depression is not so easy.

— The brain resists therapy. For him, stopping suffering after years is a way out of his usual comfort zone. You will hate the psychologist and everything around you. The brain will convince you: “Brothers, we don’t need this. Let's get out of here, they won't help you. It's soft here at the bottom. Brother-a-a-n.” This relationship is long lasting. You need to know this and adjust yourself. Therapy is work. It will take years. Every day is a struggle. Constant struggle. It is very difficult not to give up. But this life is worth it,” the girl shares.

The girl admits that therapy has changed many of her attitudes.

— When delving into yourself, be prepared to lose yourself. This is scary. Your world will turn upside down. For example, I realized that all my life love = suffering. I fell in love with those who offended me. And for me, suffering and self-sacrifice = comfort. I realized with horror that I knew nothing about happiness or love. Oddly enough, postulates that contradict themselves coexist in the brain. You should only delve into this together with your doctor. You’ll be blown away by your ambivalence,” Tanya shares.

The girl urges anyone who suspects depression to be thoroughly examined.

— Take all the tests, examine your body. Nothing fuels depression like illness.

And if therapy does not help, then you need to be more careful in choosing a doctor.

— Not all doctors are professionals. First of all, they are people. You may not be able to communicate with them. If you initially don’t have the slightest sympathy for the doctor, or after a long time you realize that nothing is changing at all, change the doctor, Tanya advises.

The girl advises not to deny your illness, but to find help and support as quickly as possible.

- Don't be afraid to talk about your feelings. You pay money to be listened to. Don't deny your condition. Don't listen to your friends. Denying the existence of depression is like denying HIV. People are dying because of her. If you think you have it, immediately go to a psychotherapist. Don't be afraid to go to the doctor! I am alive now only thanks to the timely intervention of doctors. Thank you,” the girl sums up.

Who is a “diver” in prison slang

It is difficult to find a logical explanation for some prison terms. Most likely, some representatives of the “lowered” caste began to be called “divers” due to the need to hold their breath. Be that as it may, their role is one of the most humiliating. Therefore, for many convicts, the stigma of being a “diver” turns out to be like death.

This name has several synonyms: “lawn sniffer”, “gas-lowered”, “ventilator”. In the zone, such people act as living air conditioners. When an authoritative convict plans to spoil the air in the cell, he calls a “diver” to him. He must inhale intestinal gases, run to the window, and exhale.

If superior convicts consider that the work was performed poorly, the “diver” will be punished. Various types of humiliation can be used for this. But most often, collective beatings are used.

After several months of such humiliation, the “lowered” one turns out to be completely broken. He begins to unquestioningly follow the orders of his “master”, fearing punishment. Often, “divers” move around the chamber on all fours, like dogs. Such people do not have their own opinions, their freedom is limited by the desires of authoritative prisoners.

Such a harsh attitude may seem immoral and disgusting to the average person. However, the zone has its own rules, and this kind of “entertainment” evokes genuine emotions among authoritative prisoners. As a rule, the more humiliation the “lowered” person experiences, the more satisfaction his tormentors receive.

Mental hospital from the inside

Hello boys and girls. Let's talk about mental hospitals. What do we know about them? There is a lot of information, but it is wildly distorted, passing through the prism of stereotypes existing in society. There are many stereotypes, and their sources are different - from snatches of other people's conversations to Hollywood films. I decided to try to dispel some of them, fortunately I know the situation from the inside - now I am a psychiatrist, and in my student years I worked part-time in a mental hospital as an orderly and then as a nurse. So aware on different levels.

Serving a sentence in a maximum security prison

Punishment in the form of imprisonment and serving a sentence in a maximum security prison is applied when males commit especially serious crimes or when they repeatedly violate the legislation of the Russian Federation. It is worth noting that such punishment is not applied to females.

In such institutions there are also different types of detention, which are similar to those in general regime colonies. The main difference between a maximum security prison and other similar institutions is that you can count on relaxation in conditions of detention only after 9 months.

People end up in a mental hospital forever

This is partly true, now I will explain why. Chronic patients (experienced schizophrenics, organic patients) can go to bed ten times a year, and often go to bed of their own free will. Patients end up in the same department each time (according to their registration), they have a familiar atmosphere there, even friends, the medical staff knows them, and in general, they feel calmer there than in society. Therefore, it turns out that they spend almost their entire lives in a mental hospital. In general, doctors have hospitalization periods, a plan for those treated for the month, etc. It is not practical to keep a patient for longer than the prescribed period, and it is not necessary - paperwork begins. If you want to treat for more than a month, convene a commission, have your boss sign it, etc. From experience, I will say that more than a month is usually not required - the patient can continue treatment on an outpatient basis. So on average it’s about a month and they’re discharged; doctors don’t need extra hemorrhoids

Features of the “red zone”

“Red Prison” is an evaluative term that, although used in world practice, is more typical of the vocabulary of prisoners. What does it mean?

The “Red Zone” is a prison in which absolutely everything must comply with modern legislation.

Here, all questions or problems of prisoners are resolved by the administration of the colony, therefore, as a rule, in the “red zone” for all prisoners the highest authority is held by none other than the administration of the colony.

Even complaints from convicts, and complaints still tend to leak through the walls of the colony, and then first of all they pass through its administration.

The administrations of such prisons, for their part, can simply ignore the numerous complaints and petitions of their prisoners.

In fact, the term “red zone” means such a use of legislative norms in relation to the detention of prisoners, which is characterized by special meticulousness, severity and even intrusiveness.

Practice shows that prisoners in the “red zone” suffer more from the nagging of the institution’s administration itself than from the punishment to which the court sentenced them.

The concept of “red zone” is unofficial, it does not have a strictly defined definition, however, in practice, the “red zone” is characterized by the following number of features, each of which can occur in such prisons:

strictness in the execution by convicts of all norms not only of internal orders of the prison administration, but also of other correctional codes;
prisoners do not have the right to violate any instructions from the camp authorities regarding their appearance, as well as the condition of their clothing;
Each convict must strictly adhere to certain rules in construction, going to work assignments, and also unquestioningly follow the established daily routine.

In the “red zone”, a prisoner will be subject to extremely harsh punishment for even the slightest violation of order or act of insubordination.

As a rule, disobedient people face:

ban on dating;
deprivation of your legal right to receive transfers;
placement in a punishment cell (punishment cell);
seclusion in a PKT (cell-type room) for a period of up to six months;
changing the regime of detention of a convicted person;
and even an increase in the sentence.

All of the above methods of punishment are permitted under modern legislation. How, then, are the “red zones” different? In such places, punishments differ in their purpose.

Thus, the administration of such an institution, having decided to cruelly punish someone, is not guided by the intention of correcting the wrong behavior of the convicted person. On the contrary, the authorities of the “red zones” want to break the personality of the rebellious, which is no secret for the prisoners.

It is well known that in every prison such activists (convicts who are assistants to the administration) are despised. Despite the fact that the employees humiliate them, this does not prevent them from selfishly using them in their own interests, namely, to control any processes taking place in the prisoners’ cells.

Moreover, activists are not at all above carrying out extremely humiliating tasks from the administration, which most convicts will not do.

Therefore, if the authorities want to introduce the “red movement”, then in such institutions the managers of the household, those responsible for discipline and other “wool” lose all fear and shame (“wool” are convicts who report any information to the authorities).

In “red zones,” jailers do not issue a warning or a stern reprimand to a prisoner who has stumbled . If it comes to violating the order, then in such camps they are punished almost immediately, despite the fact that the punishment is constantly increasing, regardless of the degree of seriousness of the offender’s offense.

Therefore, prisoners in such prisons live in constant fear of being put on trial for disobedience, the imposition of an additional term of arrest, or a change in the regime of their detention.

Anyone can end up in a mental hospital

There are subtleties. For example, your neighbor doesn't like you. He calls an ambulance and says that you are inadequate, you throw yourself at people, you talk to yourself. In most cases, the ambulance will not pick you up, because you will behave adequately with them. But if he is very convincing, and even asks his friends to fit in, and the emergency doctor is suggestible and inexperienced, he might give you a ride. The next stage is the admissions department. Everything is simple here - you refuse hospitalization and that’s it. Yes, the emergency department doctor can involuntarily hospitalize you for a short time, but to do this you must pose a danger to yourself or others. If you can’t imagine, then you refuse and go home to hang a cradle for your neighbor. The reception doctor will only be happy - there will be less paperwork without you. If there is a zombie sitting in the emergency department, taking everyone around him at their word and not seeing beyond his own nose, while being dumb as a plug, then there is a possibility that, contrary to common sense, you will still be hospitalized. Next is the department. There are also doctors in the department. You write a statement and check out. There are no questions here. Another thing is that the doctor cannot discharge you without a diagnosis - the rules are as follows. But in such a case (if the doctor sees that there is a healthy person in front of him and he got here by mistake), there are a lot of soft diagnoses (accentuation of personality traits, neurasthenia, etc.) that will not affect his subsequent life. Thus, anyone can fall into a fool, but for this to happen, so many unlikely circumstances must coincide that such cases become exclusively a theory. Although this happens, of course.

Serving a sentence in a general regime colony

In such places, men who have committed a serious crime or male persons who have not previously served a sentence of imprisonment serve their sentences. Also, women are serving sentences in these institutions, including after committing a crime again.

The result of the trial may be a sentence with a requirement to send the offender to serve his sentence in a general regime colony. These institutions also house convicts who have violated the rules of being in a colony-settlement.

General regime colonies differ in their conditions of detention. There are three types of detention conditions:

Lungs;
Regular;
Strict.

The decision to transfer to other conditions of detention is made on the basis of the convict’s compliance with the rules of the colony. If a person regularly follows all the rules and shows his best performance, then after six months he can be transferred to lighter conditions of detention. Very often, convicts do not comply with the conditions of detention and in this case they are placed in a punishment cell.

A mental hospital is a scary place where people are turned into vegetables/zombies/controllable

Not true. Thanks to the cinema for this stereotype. I won’t say that a mental hospital is a joyful place with fairies and pink ponies, it’s a depressing place. But this is first and foremost a hospital. Standard departments - corridor and wards. Yes, the wards often have no doors, but these are ordinary wards with beds and bedside tables. The number of chambers varies, but there is always an observation chamber (sometimes two). This is where the first thing the guys in an exacerbation go (in fact, the most mentally ill ward). This room is the farthest from the exit; there will be barred windows and a sanitary post at the exit. There are no bedside tables - only beds. The beds are iron, armored, with mattresses covered with oilcloth (it’s clear why). It will come as a surprise to many, but there are no straitjackets in the madhouses for a long time. And even more so in rooms with soft walls. There are harnesses (bundles, belts - they are called differently in each locality), very strong tourniquets, which actually fix the especially violent to this very iron bed. Each orderly knits in his own way; there is no universal technique. Soft fixation (that's what it's called) occurs only with the approval of a doctor (this is shown in the documentation - it is prescribed as a medicine). When the severity of psychosis subsides, the patient is transferred to any other ward, and a fresh patient is put in his place. In closed psychiatric wards, patients cannot freely leave the ward (there are only rare exceptions), the guys from the observation room can only walk to the toilet and back (most often this is a couple of meters). So, apart from the observation room, everyone is very calm - playing cards, watching TV, in short, just like in a regular hospital.

Teaching is light

Orderlies, according to the Unified Qualification Handbook approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development, can perform a variety of jobs: from cleaning the premises to bathing seriously ill patients. Therefore, they are often confused either with cleaners or with nurses. But unlike the former, orderlies are included in the group of junior medical personnel. This allows them to qualify for a reduced work week and additional vacations on an equal basis with other medical staff. At the same time, unlike nurses, orderlies bear significantly less responsibility for their work and may not have knowledge in medicine. Formally, to enter this position, only secondary general education is sufficient.

The Russian Ministry of Education and Science proposed to change the situation and presented a draft order according to which orderlies would have to receive vocational education. The duration of training would be determined by the specific program. But neither the program nor the order ever saw the light of day, so for now employers are figuring out the selection criteria on their own. Previously, for convenience, they divided the vacancy into several components. For example, a cleaning aide and a patient care aide. Now the need for them is gradually disappearing. Firstly, because hospitals prefer to use cleaning companies. Secondly, because the rate is divided among other employees. For example, special patient transportation companies have now taken up the problem of transporting patients. They are on duty for days in different departments of the medical institution. Patient care was given to nurses.

Formally, it is impossible to say that this caused the workload on staff to exceed the norm. If there is a sufficient number of personnel, employees will simply begin to perform the full list of duties that are prescribed in the Unified Qualification Handbook approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development. Most of the responsibilities of orderlies, according to this document, overlap with the tasks of other employees or even duplicate them.

For example, the housewife provides the unit with the necessary household equipment, detergents, and linen for the sick. Nurse - receives equipment and linen from her, “ensures their proper storage and use.” The younger nursing sister changes the bed linen and underwear of patients, transports seriously ill patients, and keeps the room clean. Nurse - cleans bedside tables after each meal, accompanies patients to offices, helps them wash, cleans rooms and baths. And yet, in many hospitals where patients need constant care and attention, for example, psychoneurological ones, they are not yet ready to give up orderlies. Who gets into these positions?

MENTAL HOSPITAL DOCTORS

When orderlies become featured in the news, most often they talk about beatings, bullying, and violations of the rights of patients. Workers are fired and put on trial, but the abuses continue. Izvestia found out why this is happening and what is included in the official duties of orderlies.

What is the difference between the “red zone” and the “black”?

“Red zone” and “black” are rather an informal name, for those knowledgeable in the criminal world and among the “cops”.

The “Red Zone” is a colony in which the prison authorities rule the roost, using for their own purposes prisoners who are ready to cooperate with the administration, sometimes on their own initiative or taken on a hook.

“Black zones” include institutions where the main thing is the “thieves’ law”, with their own established rules, rituals and traditions.

There is also the so-called position of overseer, as a rule, with the tacit approval of the colony administration - this is a special caste of managers in the zone.

What is also typical for the “red zones” are certain regimes for keeping prisoners. They always have:

punishment cell or punishment cell;
separate common barracks;
quarantine - you enter it immediately upon arrival or in case of suspected disease.

“Black zones” are a peculiar product of the unstable financial situation in the state, when institutions of this kind are practically not funded or are sent to survive.

Living conditions in such colonies are understandably terrible, sanitary standards are low, there is practically no medical care, and the food is very poor.

Taking into account such factors, the leadership of the colony is forced to turn a blind eye to the fact that prisoners themselves solve most everyday problems. In fact, this is how they have a chance to survive.

In the “black” colony, prisoners live under the laws of thieves, and to cooperate with the administration and work is not according to concepts, that is, it is not accepted, and even punishable.

There is a rare guest of renovation and well-kept premises. This is a special habitat where the fittest survive.

In the “red” zones, all new arrivals are required to give written consent that they renounce the concept of thieves. So the authorities are trying to re-educate the convicts from the very beginning and force them to cooperate.

Teaching is light

Right to callThe Ministry of Labor will figure out whether it is possible to prohibit residents of mental institutions from talking on the phone and receiving visitors

Photo: Depositphotos The work of doctors will be standardized by 2019. The proposed rules will be advisory in nature.

What crimes are people despised for in the zone?

In Russian prisons, a prisoner can be released for a number of reasons. In most cases, a person is transferred to the category of offended for serious offenses. For example, they can be released for denunciation of cellmates or theft from the common fund.

But in some cases, cellmates may not even understand what kind of person is in front of them. They only need to know about the crime he committed to draw the appropriate conclusions.

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A person who kills or beats a person for no apparent reason can be sent to prison. For example, an attacker attacked a drunk man and beat him to death, wanting to take away a bottle of vodka. This criminal will have a hard time in prison.

One of the most shameful articles is Article 131, for rape. Cellmates often commit collective reprisals against such prisoners. Moreover, the rapist himself can be raped and reduced to a cock.

At the same time, many thieves in law and crime bosses had articles for rape. Therefore, in this case, strength of character is important. During the Soviet era, law enforcement officers fabricated many cases against criminal authorities. One of the most convenient was the article for rape. In this case, it was enough for the police to take statements from witnesses and the victim without conducting any examinations.

Accordingly, someone convicted of rape did not have the right to vote in the zone. The path to authority was closed to him, and he could achieve recognition of the loyalty of his cellmates only by correct behavior.

Among the most despised articles are child molestation and violence against minors. Prisoners have a short conversation with pedophiles - they are released without the right to rehabilitation.