January 10, I arrived at correctional colony No. 1 in Iksha with a colleague, Sergei Leonov, from the PMC of the Moscow Region.
It was a regular visit: members of the PMC regularly visit places of deprivation of liberty - both planned and responding to requests from prisoners, their relatives, information from the media and social networks.
And yet it was a little special story.
The colony in Iksha is female. There was a Christmas week, and it seemed right and important to me to come precisely to those women who were in captivity precisely on these days.
Consider this a gender weakness. But it was like that.
I did so.
I even thought about some goodies, but here - alas. There are pretty strict rules that no one would violate because of my Christmas outbursts.
In the colony (and in the isolation ward attached to it) - a total of about 300 people.
There are heavy, "non-female" articles: murders, robberies. There are "economic" (or "household") - domestic girls, neat, soft women. There are tears. Because they are not yet accustomed to and have not believed until the end. There are HIV-infected (and a large complex of systemic problems that we will try to solve). There are people with disabilities. There are problems with conducting complex diagnostics, which in the nearest city are simply not there. Hypertension, panic attacks. Moreover, the colony is one of the most comfortable (I understand that it is not the right word, but I can’t pick another one) among those that I saw. But this combination itself: women and prison walls - causes protest in the soul.
In one of the cells - Israeli Naama Issahar.
Her case was initially high-profile: detained at the airport with ten grams of hashish in transit baggage.
She did not deny that she was a drug. I thought I didn’t import it into Russia, because luggage is in the transit zone of the airport. That is, she believed that she did not violate the laws of the Russian Federation.
But ignorance of the law, as you know, does not exempt from punishment.
Well and here - seven and a half years of the general regime.
Then there was hope for an exchange for a Russian hacker (well, at least, a person accused of hacking), detained at the request of the United States in Israel.
Did not work out.
Then an appeal.
And literally on the eve, the higher court upheld her verdict. That is, seven more years of the colony are ahead. And at that moment it is not known which and where.
Frankly, the camera was ready for everything: tears, hysteria, resentment, anger, despair ...
She smiled. A thin girl who speaks good Russian.
No, no complaints.
No, there are no comments.
No, not cold.
Yes, mom came, yesterday was a date.
Yes, they feed normally, there are also goodies from the will.
Three female inmates spoke more about her than about themselves.
No, I'm not trying to paint an idyllic picture now.
A prison, no matter how it is called, no matter how exemplary it may be, no matter how freshly painted the walls and light cameras are, is a difficult, scary place.
Yes, the people who find themselves in this place, for the most part, have violated the law, sometimes scary. And they should be here, at times ... However, this is a separate topic, which I address constantly and will address many more times. The point is that there should be fewer trains for which a real deadline is provided.
I won’t be here.
Because I want about something else.
I left the colony with a list of issues that need to be addressed immediately.
A woman with a suspicion of oncology - the identity is not confirmed, there is no citizenship. How to do a complicated expensive examination is not clear.
HIV-infected people who have not been confirmed their immune status for a long time, because the laboratory that won the tender for testing, to say the least, mows.
A few more medical problems.
Mattresses in some places to change, because they are thin.
One more little thing.
Naama was not on this list, because I could not help her (although I returned to her story several times and even asked questions to big uncles, but their answers did not inspire optimism).
And I wrote about everything about it in my social networks.
And people came. With comments about why this is.
Treat a nurse with oncology.
Spend money from the budget on tests of HIV-infected criminals.
Pity the scammers sobbing in captivity.
To be moved by the fact that the Israeli drug addict is well kept in the cell and she is patronized by the same female inmates.
And at first I didn’t even know what to answer them.
And how the mantra repeated the formula with which I now practically live (and I work absolutely precisely): "punishment should not be torture." And something about mercy for the fallen. And mercy.
But they did not hear me.
And today, Russian President Vladimir Putin in Jerusalem told Naama Issahar’s mother that everything with her girl would be fine.
And as I understand it, this is precisely about that - about mercy and mercy for the fallen.
Well and so - completely in the fields.
January 10th. Iksha. I leave the cell, say goodbye - and almost in the back: “Oh, what a good perfume.”
Girls are everywhere girls.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.