Who Lives Well in Russia? How Prisons Work in Modern Russia

The author records the state of affairs in a Russian prison for the period of 2022. The conditions in which prisoners are held, prison medicine, food, routine, the situation in cells, visits, transportation in stages, and many other details of the life of detainees are described by the well-known human-rights activist and journalist Eva Merkachyova. Behind each chapter stand human destinies—not only those of the prisoners, but also the victims of their crimes and law-enforcement officers.

The author also talks about women’s colonies, the “red zones” where special services staff serve their terms, about well-known inmates of famous pretrial detention centers, about blatant cases of abuse of official authority, about humiliations and torture, about the selfless work of human-rights defenders trying to improve conditions for detainees, and about the legendary Andrey Babushkin. The author provides a lot of statistics, little-known facts, and real stories. An appendix to the main text is a unique short “guide” to Moscow prisons. In the final part, you will hear Eva Merkachyova’s letter-address to the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin and his response.