Russian Control

            Russian prisons, similar to American prisons, have a brutal history of tyranny, brutality, and corruption. During the rule of Joseph Stalin, Gulags were created which represented hard labor camps for Russian prisoners. The Gulag term, translated in english stands for the Soviet Bureaucratic Institution. Prisons were created on the basis of the Gulag, hard labor and strong psychological rehabilitation (gulag.org). Prisons ranged in locations from extreme climate conditions to city locations such as Moscow (gulag.org). Unsanitary conditions, violence, and poor health led an increase in high death rates during Stalin’s rule. Now, there is information that both supports the Gulags continue while other sources argue that brutality in prisons is to a minimum. Evidence would indicate that Russian prisons are moderately harsher on inmates than American prisons.

            Climate conditions is a big factor in Russian prisons. Prisons in the outskirts of Russia such as those near Siberia are extremely cold and some prisons have no temperature controls. Stones, concrete, and ice surround the prison during winter climates. Temperatures drop below -40 degrees fahrenheit and the only way to keep warm is to wear layers (Parfitt, 2005). Although not as difficult as the Gulag era where prisoners would work in freezing temperatures digging at frozen dirt, extreme climates can make living conditions difficult (gulag.org). Unlike American prisons where civil rights groups have fought for safe conditions, most Russian prisons are based on the notion of the Gulag.

            Another issue in Russian prisons is violence. Testimony of abuse was reported to the National Public Radio News which argued that inmates were being tortured by prison guards (Feifer, 2008). The article testifies that such violence has occurred for centuries and if not stopped, will spread to other systems of government. Human Rights groups argue that such torture prisons exist which are aimed to destroy men psychologically and drive inmates to suicide (Feifer, 2008). Prison authorities deny any allegations of torture by explaining that government officials constantly monitor prisons and investigate any complaints (Feifer, 2008). In 2010, Russian Billionaire Mikhail Khordokovsky told the Foreign Policy News Company about the harsh conditions he suffered thorough in a Siberian prison (Hounshell, 2010). The article continues to explain how the prisons use stronger elite inmates to keep order among other inmates by using brutal force (Hounhell, 2010).

            In contrast, Russian Profile released a video explaining how structured, clean, and safe Russian prisons were. Butyrka prison is known in Russia as Alcatraz is known in the United States. Butyrka has help many famous leaders and has been known for its violent and harsh conditions. Butyrka is now known as a detention center and testimony by inmates contradict stories of violence and poor health (russianprofile, 2011). The video explains that the prison has a restaurant where inmates can choose what they want to eat and testimony also explains that inmates find the prison in better conditions than their communities (russianprofile, 2011).

            Its apparent that there is more evidence to support violent conditions of prisons than their is to deny them. Prisons were not meant to be easy, but insufferable conditions of prisons are violations to civil rights. In regards the the video explaining how clean and productive Butyrka prison is, the information would be acceptable if different conditions were present while the footage was taken. It is not known whether or not guards intimidated or forced inmates to lie about the safe conditions in Butyrka prison or whether the statements are true. Piacentini (2006) argues that no regions of Russian are alike, and due to the fall of the Soviet Power, prisons adopted different forms of punishment. Western Russian prisons leaned more towards rehabilitation of  inmates while prisons in the outskirts of Russian leaned more towards punishment (Piacentini, 2006). Piacentini explains that another issues regarding whether or not prisons are humane is funding, no funding equals inmates bartering for necessities. Overall, Russian prisons are not similar to American prison, but one factor that should be taken into consideration when deciding conditions of prisons is the fact that Russian history has always been of communist control.

References

Feifer, Gregory. (2008). Former Inmates Allege Russian Torture Prisons. NPR National Public             Radio News. Public Broadcasting PBS

Gulag History. (2011). Soviet Formed Labor Camps and Struggle for Freedom. Gulaghistory.org.             www.gulaghistory.org/nps/

Hounshell, Blake. (2010). What are Russian Prisons Like. Foreign Policy News Company.             Division Washington Post. Dec 28, 2010.

Parfit, Tom. (2005). Welcome to Penal Colony Yag 14/10 Now he home of Riches Russian. The             Guardian. October 25, 2005.

Piacentini, Laura., and Pleshkova, Olga. (2006). Surviving Russian Prisons, Economy and             Politics in Trasition by Laura Piacentini. Human Rights Law Review. Nottingham:2006.             6(1).

Russian Profile. (2011) Touring Russia’s Legendary Butyrka Prison. Russian Profile.org             Unwrapping the mystery inside the enigma. Video. 4--2011