Yedinichka Prison: A Life-Sentence Colony in Mordovia

The Mordovian prison known as Yedinichka holds some of the most hardened and violent criminals. Prisoners sentenced by the courts to life imprisonment serve their sentences here. The prison population is quite diverse: serial killers, pedophiles, terrorists, leaders of criminal organizations, and professional contract killers.

Yedinichka penal colony is located deep in the forests of Mordovia and is officially known as Institution ZhKh-385/1. During Stalin's rule, people convicted of treason against the Soviet state were sent here to serve long prison sentences. Not all prisoners survived until their release; some died because of the harsh conditions of confinement.

After Russia stopped carrying out executions, a new category of prisoners emerged: those sentenced to life imprisonment, who needed to be housed somewhere. Yedinichka became one of the facilities used to hold life-sentenced prisoners.

The History of Yedinichka: From Temlag to Dubravlag

Yedinichka was established on the site of the Temnikov Corrective Labor Camp (Temlag), notorious during the Stalin era as a camp for criminals of all kinds.

From June 1931, the camp administration was based in the settlement of Yavas, surrounded by dense, nearly impassable forests that made prison escapes extremely difficult. The prisoners' main work was logging.

Unbearable working conditions gave the Mordovian camp one of the highest mortality rates. In 1933 alone, one in six prisoners died, even though the camp's population at its peak exceeded 30,000 people.

Incidentally, prisoners who had completed their sentences often remained in the region, apparently having grown accustomed to the harsh climate and exhausting labor during their years of imprisonment.

Beginning in 1937, Temlag started receiving relatives of so-called "enemies of the people." They were quickly arrested, tried, and transported to the remote forest region to serve their sentences.

Interestingly, Temlag prisoners sometimes learned the length of their sentences only after arriving at the prison.

Women were also sent to the Mordovian camp, accounting for one-third of its total prisoner population.

Wartime changed the camp's production activities. During World War II, prisoners worked not only in logging but also sewing military uniforms and manufacturing gas masks.

After the war, the facility that would eventually become Yedinichka was renamed Dubravny, also known as Dubravlag.

Beginning in the 1960s, dissidents were sent there. A decade later, the camp also began receiving prisoners convicted of a wide variety of offenses.

Among those who served time in Dubravlag was the disgraced music producer Yuri Aizenshpis. Soviet authorities had discovered $18,000 in his apartment, leading to a 17-year prison sentence.

In the 1990s, Dubravlag acquired the status of a special-regime penal colony and became popularly known as Yedinichka.

The prison has a capacity of 1,005 inmates. According to the figures given in the original account, it held more than 160 prisoners serving life sentences and another 750 inmates sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Notorious Prisoners of Yedinichka

Yedinichka holds serial killers, cannibals, murderers, and other criminals who have placed themselves in opposition to society.

One example is serial killer Yuri Vladimirov, convicted of murdering four children in a single night.

Vladimirov had displayed aggressive behavior since childhood and had beaten his classmates while still at school.

Interestingly, Yuri Vladimirov claims to be the son of Vyacheslav Ivankov, the thief-in-law known as Yaponchik.

Another prisoner, Pavel Shuvalov from St. Petersburg, was convicted of murdering five young women.

Unlike Vladimirov, Shuvalov grew up as a withdrawn child and was constantly bullied by his peers.

As an adult, he joined the police.

While working in the St. Petersburg metro, Pavel Shuvalov searched for victims among female passengers traveling without tickets.

He stopped them at the turnstiles, took them to a staff room, threatened them, and demanded that they meet him privately in Nevsky Forest Park.

According to the account, the women generally came to the park as instructed. There, Shuvalov pulled tights over their heads, repeating the kind of humiliation he had experienced at the hands of his peers, then raped and murdered them.

Investigators were able to identify the criminal with the help of acquaintances of the murdered women.

The victims had told their acquaintances about a strange police officer from the metro who had invited them to meet him in the forest park.

Investigators eventually caught the serial killer by using a woman as bait.

Prisoners Who Deny Their Guilt

Yedinichka also holds prisoners who continue to deny their guilt.

One of them is Ilya Komarov, who claims that he became a victim of judicial injustice.

Komarov was convicted of murdering the wife of police officer Alexei Zelensky, stabbing her 70 times, and then killing the officer's 12-year-old son.

The motive was jewelry worth 82,000 rubles, which the criminal took from their apartment.

The family's dog was also stabbed when it tried to protect the household.

Sergey Klimuk likewise claims that he was not responsible for the deaths of 14 people killed in an explosion at a café in Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market.

According to the account, Klimuk intended to intimidate the café owners, who were hostile toward him, but made a mistake in his calculations when designing the bomb.

Another inmate is Andrey Vyucheysky, a reindeer herder from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

He has long dreamed of being released on parole, but so far without success.

Vyucheysky was convicted of burning his relatives alive inside a tent: his wife, mother, aunt, young niece, and six-month-old son.

The incident occurred after his relatives refused to give him alcohol.

The reindeer herder was already intoxicated and says he did not understand what he was doing.

He maintains that he did not set anyone on fire and, on the contrary, tried to save people from the burning tent.

Another of Yedinichka's notorious inmates is Igor Irtyshov from Krasnodar Krai, who raped eight boys, two of whom subsequently died.

Irtyshov himself experienced abuse during childhood after being placed in a boarding school because his parents were alcoholics.

Conditions for Life-Sentenced Prisoners

The first prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment arrived at Yedinichka in 1998.

Their buildings were separated from the rest of the colony by a three-meter-high fence topped with barbed wire.

Cells at Yedinichka are small and designed to accommodate either one or two prisoners.

Tables and stools are bolted to the floor.

Guards monitor life inside the cells through video surveillance, leaving prisoners with no way to escape observation.

According to psychologists cited in the original account, 13 percent of life-sentenced prisoners wished they had been executed.

The prison governor says that any of his inmates can submit a request for execution.

However, even if the death penalty were reinstated, these prisoners would not be executed because the law would not apply retroactively to those already sentenced to life imprisonment.

For this reason, the account states, some of these prisoners still entertain thoughts of escaping.

If they are caught, they will not be executed, and there is little point in adding another sentence to a life term.

However, an escape attempt carries the possibility of being shot, which would bring an end to their daily suffering.

Prisoners do, of course, have a chance of being released, but only after serving 25 years in prison and having their request for release approved, something that happens extremely rarely.

This possibility encourages prisoners to remain relatively obedient so that their personal records are not damaged by disciplinary violations.

Bathing and Security Procedures

In the middle of the week, Yedinichka prisoners are taken to the bathhouse according to a strict schedule.

In the morning, metal doors begin to clang open, and prisoners quickly place their hands against the wall, palms turned outward, with their legs spread apart.

After the guards count the occupants of each cell and announce the criminal offenses for which they were convicted, prisoners are handcuffed in pairs and taken into the corridor for inspection.

In the corridor, the inmates are searched by escort officers while standing in the same position against the wall.

After the search, prisoners are escorted to a neighboring building containing the shower facilities.

Every time an inmate encounters a prison employee along the way, he is required to say, "Zdraviya zhelayu" — a formal Russian greeting meaning "I wish you good health."

Daily Routine at Yedinichka

Life at Yedinichka follows a strict hourly schedule.

The day begins at 6:00 a.m., when prisoners wake up and carry out their morning hygiene routines, including brushing their teeth and washing.

Breakfast is served at 8:00 a.m.

Life-sentenced prisoners eat inside their cells without leaving their permanent living quarters.

The working day begins after breakfast, but only for prisoners who have been medically cleared to work.

According to the figures cited in the account, only 99 of the 162 life-sentenced prisoners were considered fit for work.

These inmates work in a sewing workshop.

Lunch is served at 12:00 p.m., followed by a 90-minute outdoor exercise period.

Prisoners serving long but fixed-term sentences can participate in sports. Their exercise yards are equipped with pull-up bars, parallel bars, barbells, and even table tennis tables.

Life-sentenced prisoners, however, have only a small enclosed yard measuring approximately 1.5 by 3 meters.

High walls surround the yard, and a metal grille covers it from above, leaving the prisoners with a view of the sky through bars.

Evenings, Family Contact, and Religion

In the evening, prisoners have a little time to themselves.

Some play checkers with their cellmates, while others read books or pray.

At the time described in the original account, life-sentenced prisoners had recently been permitted to keep televisions in their cells.

However, the equipment had to be purchased by their relatives or acquaintances.

Few prisoners had people willing to do this for them.

Some had been abandoned by their families and friends while their court proceedings were still underway.

For example, Sergey Ryakhovsky, known as the Balashikha Ripper, was convicted of murdering at least 18 people between 1988 and 1993.

He lost contact with his mother, who did not answer a single letter he sent her from Yedinichka.

In 2008, prisoners built a Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the colony grounds, as many inmates had turned to religion after receiving their lengthy sentences.

Lights-out is at 10:00 p.m.

The following morning, the same routine begins again.