What things can a prisoner have: what will he need in prison?

Convicts who have committed crimes of minor or moderate gravity, usually through negligence, are sent to colony settlements. This type of correctional facility was created to protect such convicts from the influence of criminal culture and marginal values that surround prisoners in higher security colonies. In settlement colonies, soft restrictions apply, and convicts have the opportunity to work and study in conditions close to free conditions.

A completely law-abiding citizen who committed a crime without malicious intent can end up in a colony-settlement: for example, a driver who carelessly hit a pedestrian. You will learn how to act in this case and what to expect in this article.

Actions of the convicted person after trial

If a person is sentenced to imprisonment, then there are two possible scenarios:

If an arrest order has been issued, the convicted person is taken to the place where he is serving his sentence by law enforcement officers.
In the absence of a corresponding resolution, the citizen gets to the colony on his own. This is possible when committing crimes of minor and moderate severity.

Having received a copy of the court verdict, the territorial body of the penal system must determine the following points within 10 days:

place of serving the sentence (it is assumed that a corresponding order will be issued);
date of arrival at the colony.

Also, FSIN employees compile a file of the convicted person, where personal information, a reference certificate, and fingerprints are entered. A photograph of the future prisoner is pasted into the file.

If the convicted person does not arrive at the place of serving his sentence within the agreed period, he is put on the wanted list. After arrest, the person is taken to the colony under escort.

How to behave?

Procedures in different colonies may differ significantly, but general principles should be observed everywhere:

At first, talk less and listen more, keep conclusions and value judgments to yourself.
Do not talk about your personal and sexual life.
Do not take on obligations without understanding their essence and price. In the case of valuable gifts, give something equivalent in return.
Do not enter into conflicts, especially with representatives of the colony administration or with representatives of the “thieves’” authorities.

If a conflict arises with convicts, which may threaten health and life, you can contact the administration. In this case, the convicted person will be transferred to solitary confinement to ensure his safety.

Such a step, as a rule, is viewed negatively by other inhabitants of the colony, so it is better to try to resolve the conflict yourself. Otherwise, after being transferred to solitary confinement, the convicted person finds himself in social isolation for a long time, and returning to a normal environment is difficult until the very end of his sentence.

On our website you will find other useful materials telling about the rules and conditions of serving sentences in various correctional institutions. From them you can find out:

What are the features of children's colonies for minors?
How are sentences served in women's prisons?
What you need to know about a general security prison?
How does a maximum security colony differ from a general prison colony and others?

What you are allowed to take with you

Correctional institutions have strict requirements for the products and items that prisoners are allowed to have with them. Therefore, the convicted person should take only essential items with him. Anything unnecessary will be confiscated during the search. You will not be able to bring a prohibited item into the cell.

The convicted person is advised to take with him the following:

clothes (it is advisable to choose comfortable, durable, not too bright things);
handkerchiefs;
several pairs of socks and underwear (it is better to take regular and warm socks);
large towel;
slippers;
bed sheets;
personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo);
sports suit;
pen and notebook;
electric razor, boiler;
reusable plastic tableware;
food supply for the first time;
watch;
books (it is advisable to take no more than three, preference should be given to the classics);
more cigarettes (especially valued in prisons, being an analogue of money);
matches (it is prohibited to take lighters with you);
black loose leaf tea (just like cigarettes, it is highly valued among prisoners);
money (it is better not to take large sums, limiting yourself to 5,000 rubles).

Subsequently, money and everything you need can be obtained from relatives. Therefore, you should not take too much with you. In addition, you can buy everything you need in a store located on the territory of the colony.

It is better to put things in a canvas bag. Modern suitcases may not be missed. It is also advisable to check with the colony administration for a list of prohibited items. This approach will help you avoid unpleasant situations later.

Responsibilities and restrictions of convicted persons

Naturally, with such a lenient punishment, all convicts have certain responsibilities and may also have their rights limited.

Duties include:

Requesting permission to leave the correctional facility.
Obligation to work - you can find a job on your own; prisoners provide all their living needs themselves.
The need to hand over all your documents upon arrival to the leadership of the colony: everyone is issued a certificate, which replaces a passport and other documents while serving their sentence; it is used for employment, as well as for receiving postal items and even for marriage.

There are also a number of actions that prisoners are not allowed to perform. So, these include:

Leaving the colony without permission from the colony leadership.
Prohibition on bringing alcohol and drugs into the territory.
Prohibition on carrying and storing weapons of any kind.
Prisoners are not allowed to purchase their own vehicles.
You cannot buy medications yourself without a doctor's prescription.

What items are prohibited in prisons?

Staying in prison comes with many restrictions. And we are talking not only about the inability to move freely. The daily routine and leisure time of a prisoner are determined by the internal regulations of the correctional institution. Work, walks, bathing procedures, meetings with loved ones are carried out strictly according to schedule.

In addition, there is a general list of things that prisoners are prohibited from carrying. Such items must be confiscated during a search. Accordingly, they cannot be taken with you when assigned to a colony or accepted from relatives in the form of transfers.

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The list of prohibited items includes the following:

mobile phones, laptops, tablet PCs, cameras, SIM cards;
alcoholic beverages, cologne, perfume and other alcohol-containing liquids;
medications without appropriate medical indications;
smoking mixtures, narcotic drugs;
knives, forks and other sharp objects;
playing cards;
compasses, topographic materials;
blades, straight razors;
lighters;
playing cards;
hand tools (hammers, saws, axes).

With a clear conscience

We immediately agreed that everything would be fair. Surely I was treated with more respect than ordinary prisoners, but at least the formalities were observed.

In a penal colony, convicts are required to work. Those who refuse (and there are few of them) are sent to a punishment cell. The rest work, for which they receive the minimum wage or a little more per month.

As it turned out later, my “jailers were thinking about cooking me dumplings, but then they decided to make it fair. After the punishment cell, this unusual excursion came to an end. Some necessary formalities - and I was given a release certificate, which stated that I was released on August 2, 2014.

According to the law, one day less than two years after the start of the period. I went outside and decided to quietly smoke on a bench and think about the situation. And then over the loudspeaker: “Convicted Kotlyar, appear...”. It gives me goosebumps.

What happens after arriving at the colony

When a convicted person arrives at a place of deprivation of liberty, the following procedures await him:

Inspection of things, thorough search. Many convicts try to smuggle a mobile phone into their cell. Even if it can be hidden during the initial inspection, the colony staff will definitely identify the prohibited item in the future. Cell searches are carried out several times a day.
The convict gives documents to the colony staff. In return, he is given a certificate of the established form.
The convict is examined by medical staff. After this, he is placed in quarantine for 10-15 days.

How to deliver a parcel to prison

Prison comprehensively restricts the freedom of people who have broken the law. Regardless of the regime in force in the colony, convicts are forced to put up with strict internal regulations and get along with the colorful local contingent. The prisoners' leisure time is limited, and food and living conditions in most cases leave much to be desired. Accordingly, without transmissions received from family and friends, the prisoner will have a hard time in the zone.

When collecting a parcel for the zone, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

First of all, you should find out what items are prohibited in a particular institution.
Each product and item is placed in separate transparent bags. Cigarettes are removed from packs, food products are removed from packages.
For delivery, you should use standard cardboard boxes, which can be purchased at the post office. The size is selected depending on the number of products being transferred.
Things are packed into the box as tightly as possible. It is advisable to place the heaviest items in the center, surrounded by other products. This approach will reduce the likelihood of goods being damaged during transportation.
A list of the contents of the box is compiled. The inventory is created in triplicate. One of them remains with the sender, the other two must be certified by a post office employee. He puts his signature and postmark on them. The parcel is presented to the postal employee in an open form.
A notification form is issued. It indicates the recipient's full name, zip code and postal address. We write the name and patronymic in full, without abbreviations.
The value of the parcel is indicated in rubles.
The delivery is handed over to a postal employee. He packs it and prepares it for shipping.
After paying the shipping cost, you must pick up a receipt. It indicates the individual parcel number. It is needed to track transmission.

Colony-settlement as the most loyal way of implementing punishment in the form of imprisonment

As a measure to correct the behavior of a criminal, a colony-settlement can be assigned if the act was not intentional, entirely due to a combination of circumstances or in defense of one’s own interests, that is, by definition, it was not intentional. People who did not intend to harm anyone's interests, in most cases, regret the consequences and the punishment towards them should be nominal, only to confirm the possibility of social coexistence.

The punishment, when a colony-settlement is designated as a place of serving imprisonment, is nominal in nature and is more reminiscent of a long shift at a logging plant. Restrictions on rights and freedoms take the form of testing the convicted person’s ability to function normally, without antisocial behavior or going beyond what is permitted.

The organizational form of colony-settlements does not change when the population serving a sentence changes, and the division itself is conditional and aims to distinguish subjects with more profound defects in the behavioral model from less malicious offenders. What can you have with you in a colony settlement? The next section will tell about who is serving their sentence in penal colonies. According to the Criminal Code, at least two-thirds of the imputed term of imprisonment will have to be served for transfer to a colony-settlement by those convicted of committing an act that had grave consequences. A type of correctional institution of the Federal Penitentiary Service, located mainly in wooded areas of the northern and eastern regions of Russia and representing buildings without fences, is called a colony-settlement.

Neglect of the protected perimeter is compensated by the remoteness of such settlements from cities and other significant settlements, representing mining cooperatives engaged primarily in felling and logging. To receive legal assistance, convicted persons, upon their applications, are granted visits with lawyers or other persons entitled to provide legal assistance. At the request of the convicted person, visits are granted in private, out of earshot of third parties and without the use of technical means of listening.

Such visits are not counted among the number of visits established by law, their number is not limited, they are held for up to 4 hours during non-working hours for convicted persons and only during the hours from rising to lights out. At the request of the convicted person, visits can be replaced by a telephone conversation, and long visits can be replaced by short-term ones; in the educational colony there is also a long-term visit with accommodation outside the correctional institution - short-term with exit from the colony. Long-term visits are not provided to those in medical institutions, they are replaced by short-term ones.

Read other articles on the site:

Complaint against the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case for beating
License to trade in weapons and permission to store weapons
Theft is different from theft of a car or other vehicle
List of required documents on civil defense for enterprises
Having recognized the investigator’s refusal to initiate a criminal case as illegal, the judge

Dear colleagues, I wish each of us to hold high the title of lawyer, unswervingly adhering to the principles of impartiality and objectivity!

Personal transfer of items

The best option to deliver a package to a prisoner is to visit the detention center in person. In order for the transfer to be accepted, the relative of the prisoner must write a corresponding statement. This document contains the following information:

Full name of the applicant, indication of the degree of relationship with the prisoner, residential address;
request to hand over the parcel to a specific prisoner (full name indicated);
a description of the contents of the transmission;
author's signature, date.

The application is submitted to the colony employee. He must check the list for prohibited items. Next, the employee carefully examines the contents of the parcel. If everything is in order, he signs the application, thereby authorizing the transfer.

The application must be completed in two copies. The second copy is sent to the recipient. This way he can check the list with the contents of the parcel.