In March 2022, the number of prisoners in Russia amounted to 630 thousand. And this is a historical minimum for the entire existence of the Russian Federation. In the late 90s and early 2000s, more than a million people were behind bars at any one time.
Prison culture has a huge impact on our country. News about the murders of “thieves in law” is broadcast on central channels, the groups “Vorovaiki”, “Butyrka” and “Lesopoval” attract full houses at their concerts and it is a rare Russian who does not know the correct answer to the questions “about a fork and an eye”, “soap and table" or "pit and pie".
And with the massive introduction of new technologies, the influence of people behind the fence on society has only strengthened. After all, cellular communications and the Internet allow prisoners to intensively interact with the will and remain “in business” while serving their sentences. Below are a selection of interesting facts about IT technologies in the life of prisoners.
Dating is a popular online activity for prisoners
There are dozens of communities on social networks and websites for prisoners and free people who want to find love among prisoners. In the vast majority of cases, free women start relationships there with male prisoners. It is very rarely the other way around.
Correspondence women (women in relationships with prisoners by correspondence) began to appear in large numbers after the end of the Second World War, when there was a shortage of men in the country. But even in the last decade there have been plenty of them, judging by the abundance of advertisements about the desire to meet a prisoner.
Often these are either simply trusting and romantic people with problems in life (several children from previous marriages, serious defects in appearance), or women looking for short-term adventure in a room for long visits.
It rarely happens that after the end of the term, a correspondence student and a prisoner would live together happily ever after. More often, the prisoner has very mundane goals: to make a woman fall in love with him, to convince her to send parcels and transfer money . And if he sits for a few more years, then register the marriage so that the woman can come for regular “dates.”
Characteristic features of prisoners' profiles:
1. The declared purpose of posting the questionnaire is to create a family (and there may be another 5-10 years before the end of the term). 2. Too soft requirements for a potential lady of the heart. For example, a 25-year-old guy can look for a woman up to 40 years old and the presence of several children does not bother him. 3. Attempts to put pressure on pity: the wife and friends betrayed, an innocent person was imprisoned, bad people tricked him into getting into debt.
Phones, SIM cards and drugs are delivered to the zone by drones
There are many ways to smuggle “forbidden items” into a cell: canned food, a “thieves’ box,” colony employees. Since ancient times, the technique of delivering “parcels” by throwing them over the fence into the zone has been popular. It can only be done by a physically developed person who can throw a load to a sufficient height. Plus, he must be well acquainted with the location of objects behind the barbed wire.
But the availability of small amateur drones has greatly simplified life for prisoners and their free comrades. Now, in order to transport objects to the colony, you do not need to go close to the fence and make efforts to throw them strongly and accurately. All you need is a drone and cellular communication with the recipient of the package.
Lately, news that guards at a Russian prison have shot down a drone carrying illegal items appears a couple of times a month. It is unknown how many drones remain undetected. This trend is observed all over the world.
Rules for providing convicts with telephone or video conversations
One of the most terrible tests for convicts is separation from family and friends, as well as deprivation of the usual means of communication. Sometimes you have to forget about long conversations in instant messengers and social networks, video calls and other delights of civilization for many years.
Official Statements and Explanations
There is still a possibility for convicts to communicate with their relatives and friends, and it is spelled out in the same above-mentioned Internal Rules of the Penitentiary Commission. According to them, every convicted person has the right to a telephone conversation lasting no more than 15 minutes. If technical capabilities are available, video communication can also be provided. However, the number of permitted telephone and video conversations is not specified anywhere and is therefore unlimited .
To obtain permission to negotiate , you must submit a written application addressed to the head of the colony (IO or a person replacing him). It must indicate:
As a rule, a separate room is allocated for a “negotiation point”, and the right to negotiate is exercised during non-working hours.
Telephone calls can be paid for by the convicted person himself or by the subscriber (at his request). Convicts are still allowed to have telephone cards, but they must be kept by the administration representative on duty (the cards are signed and issued if there is permission to speak).
While the convict is in the colony, you will have to forget about the confidentiality of negotiations: the correctional officer has every right not only to be present at the communication session, but also to control its progress.
If the application specifies a language other than Russian, a translator is usually invited. There is no need to pay for his services (the state pays for it), but how quickly they will find an expert in the relevant language is unknown. Therefore, the majority of convicts prefer to communicate, albeit in broken, Russian (if the subscriber knows it, of course).
As a rule, upon arrival at the correctional facility, all convicts are allowed to contact their relatives (with the exception of regime violators during the detention period). However, violators and people held in cells (punishment isolation cells, PKT, EPKT) for other reasons, who under normal circumstances are deprived of the right to telephone communication, in exceptional cases can talk with their relatives.
It is allowed to communicate even with relatives staying in another colony. But God forbid that these “exceptional circumstances” should occur! Can the conversation be interrupted?
If you communicate on ordinary topics in Russian, the colony officer is unlikely to interrupt the conversation. The Rules clearly state the cases when a telephone conversation can be interrupted before the stated period has expired:
Please note that violating the rules of telephone conversations may lead to unpleasant consequences, for example, a tightening of the prisoner’s detention regime.
Incentives may be applied to convicted persons for good behavior (RF Penal Code Article 71):
Source
Nokia is the most popular phone brand in prisons
Analysis of court documents from the Rospravosudie database with mention of Article 19.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The transfer or attempt to transfer prohibited items to persons held in institutions of the penal system, pre-trial detention centers or temporary detention centers for references to various brands of telephones showed:
Nokia/"Nokiya" - found in 4347 documents; Samsung/"Samsung" - in 1412 documents; LG/Elgie - in 754 documents; Alcatel/"Alcatel" - in 433 documents; Siemens/"Siemens" - in 182 documents; iPhone/"iPhone" - in 77 documents.
There are several reasons why prisoners love Nokia: low price (phones have to be changed after every serious search of the cell), resistance to external damage and long battery life (the cell can have three sockets for a hundred people).
Recommendations
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There are online stores for prison crafts
If earlier, in order to have backgammon made from bread crumbs in your home, you needed to have acquaintances in criminal circles or know special places, now you can simply order a real handmade criminal souvenir from one of the many online stores.
Here are examples of prices for traditional prison crafts: rosary beads - 1000-3000 rubles, icons 5000 - 15,000, backgammon 7,000 - 35,000 rubles, chess made from bread crumbs according to an original sketch - 13,500 rubles (in the picture). Notice how many details this masterpiece has, invisible at first glance, the creation of which took many hours of painstaking manual labor. For example, all pawns of the “convicts” have different fingering patterns.
The tradition of making rosaries, backgammon and leather sheaths for knives in prison goes back centuries. But in recent decades, the standard range of prison crafts has been supplemented with new types of products. These are carved baseball bats (without gloves and balls ;-)) and cases for cell phones.
A universal handmade iPhone case made of genuine leather with a scorched image of a wolf costs only 1,200 rubles.
Similar questions
My rights, how much time is provided for this procedure, do they have the right to seize the phone?
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Do teachers or the principal have the right to confiscate a phone during recess? If they don’t have the right, how can I explain this to them?
The investigator, as the accused, confiscated a cell phone with a SIM card from me, the SIM card is being used in a criminal case, but during the wiretapping the phone was different and the emei of that phone is indicated in the wiretapping. Did the investigator have the right to seize a phone that was not involved in a criminal case?
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How to return the phone?
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My son is accused of robbery with a group of people, my son is 16 years old. The investigator cannot find the phone number of my son's ex-girlfriend for questioning. She threatens to confiscate her computer and phone if we don’t help find her phone number. What to do? Does he have the right to do this?
Source
Transfer to prison can be collected online
Collecting a zone transfer is not at all easy, as there are many rules and restrictions. The list alone of the categories of items that prisoners are prohibited from keeping includes 26 items. And what is allowed must also be packaged correctly. But if a relative of a prisoner is ready to buy everything at inflated prices, then he can order the collection and sending of the transfer in one of the specialized online stores.
Their assortment includes products typical for broadcasts: hematogen, jelly, Rolton, matches, soda, laundry soap, condensed milk, stew, Zvezdochka soup, gingerbread, tea, ketchup, mayonnaise.
If a product is prohibited for transfer to pre-trial detention centers, this will be stated in the description. The exact weight is indicated for each item. This is very important, since one package cannot weigh more than 20 kg and they can only be sent a few times a year (the exact number depends on the mode).
Are there legal ways to transfer a cell phone?
A prisoner does not have the right to have a mobile phone, but he is allowed telephone communication with loved ones. This is stated in Article 17 of the Federal Law of July 15, 1995 N 103-FZ “On the detention of suspects and accused of committing crimes.” Naturally, subject to certain conditions.
The prisoner is issued a permit, which states:
The permission is certified by the official seal and on the basis of this document the prisoner writes a statement in which he indicates the same data and the language in which the conversation will be conducted.
Prisoners can officially send emails
Since December 1, 2008, the website fsin-pismo.ru has the ability to send emails to prisoners of correctional institutions who have already connected to the service. The maximum length of a letter is 20,000 characters. For every 2,500 thousand characters you need to pay 55 rubles, 55 rubles for an answer and 30 rubles for one attached photo (the last two points are optional).
This looks like a profitable business, but part of the profit goes to pay the censors , who read all the letters before handing them over to the recipient. To make their work easier, special characters, including emoticons, cannot be used in letters. The delivery time of the email depends on the work schedule and workload of the censors. By law, this should not exceed three weekdays.
The price also includes expenses for paper and cartridges. The text of the letter and the attached photo are printed on a black and white printer. The prisoner writes his answer by hand on one side of a paper form, which is then scanned.
According to the law, a prisoner is entitled to 15 minutes of video communication per day.
In 2012, some correctional institutions began installing payphones for Rodnaya Svyaz video meetings. A 15-minute call costs 300 rubles, is controlled by administration employees and to make it you must submit an application at least 2 days in advance.
Relatives of convicts can conduct a video communication session on their home computer by installing PortVS (Linphone for MacOS/Linux) software on it or using a Rodnaya Svyaz payphone installed in a public place. In Moscow, one can be found in the Central Telegraph building.
In some colonies you can become an e-sportsman
At the beginning of 2016, in a maximum security colony in the city of Rubtsovsk, Altai Territory, prisoners were allowed to regularly play games on X-Box consoles. Colony workers told reporters that each of the 260 prisoners is entitled to have fun in this way for 2 hours a week.
Before admission to prisoners, all games undergo strict testing for the presence of scenes of violence and influence on the psyche of prisoners. Therefore, the range mainly includes racing and sports simulators.
In March 2022, a FIFA 17 tournament was held in Omsk correctional colony No. 6, in which 50 people took part. Among the participants were prisoners who, before entering this institution, had never held a mouse or joystick in their hands. A psychologist at Omsk Penitentiary No. 6 said that computer games are great for helping prisoners relieve stress.
In the zone you can learn to be a computer operator
Often people who end up in colonies are people who grew up in dysfunctional families and dropped out of school. But in MLS they can complete secondary education and obtain a working specialty.
In 2014, in the Mozhaisk men's colony for minors, experimental training for the profession of “computer operator” was conducted. During the lessons, the boys learned how to use a mouse and keyboard, the basics of working with Windows, Word, Excel and Power Point. Educators hope that it will be easier to get a job in an office with a criminal record than in production.
Once in Ukhta, a guy who had just been released sat next to me on the train and boasted about his carpenter’s diploma, which he received after serving three years for robbery (he was released on parole). But, naturally, he was not going to work on it. Despite three walks at the age of 23 and a broken nose, he categorically did not intend to deviate from “his path.”
As you can see, modern technologies change the lives of prisoners just like the lives of everyone else. There are a lot of good things about this - formal emails and video dates, stress-relieving games, teaching kids, more customers for prison souvenirs.
But on the other hand, this is an increase in the number of women with a broken heart, scammed by gullible people and an additional opportunity for a prisoner to commit new crimes while serving time.
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