Prison “sanatorium” for law enforcement agencies and power structures

The conditions of prisoners’ detention in Tajikistan are far from ideal – systematic riots, torture, murder. An exception is the so-called Special Zone, where prisoners are employees of law enforcement agencies and power structures. ACCA managed to talk with a former lodger of this institution.

 – When prisoners arrive in a common prison, they are immediately beaten by prison guards. And you, how were you received in the Special Zone?

– There were no beatings. I, like the others, were normally greeted and talked to. In fact, the colony employees are our colleagues, so there is an understanding. Especially behind everyone, who arrives at the Special Zone, is an influential person at large who calls the Head of the institution in advance to warn that this is “his man”.

– What is the general contingent of the Special Zone?

– On average, 300 prisoners are serving sentences there, about 60% of them are employees of the Ministry of Defense, and the rest are representatives of law enforcement agencies. Most of the Ministry of Defense employees got involved in drug trafficking, like me. This is normal. Everyone wants to live, feed a family. However, on the first day I was immediately warned not to chat a lot, since almost every second prisoner in the Special Zone is an informant and systematically transmits everything he heard to the prison administration.

– Common prisons are almost always overcrowded, there are not enough places and many prisoners sleep on the floor. Did you have the same situation?

– No, barracks-type buildings were intended for 40-50 people, and everyone had enough place. In general, the Special Zone is considered the best colony in Tajikistan by all standards. Therefore, often, when various inspection commissions arrived, they were usually first of all shown our colony.

– In all common colonies, prisoners are forced to sing the hymn in the morning. Did you have such tradition too?

– No, we didn’t sing the hymn. In the morning, it was just a check, and then everyone is busy with his own affairs. In general, there are 3 checks per day: in the morning, at lunch, and before bedtime. It should be considered that 80% of all prisoners in our colony had higher education, and knew the laws firsthand, therefore, any offenses by the colony staff were stopped. Otherwise, everything was decided by money.

– And what can be decided by money?

– Almost everything! Every second prisoner had a mobile phone, and they freely used it. There were no problems with alcoholic beverages either. For example, to bring a mistress or a prostitute for a night costed $200-300. Also prisoners often used here drugs, mostly odorless. In general, everything could be organized for money. We didn’t have any problems.

– And if you still violated some rules? In common colonies, prisoners are placed in a punishment cell for this and beaten almost every day.

– We also had a punishment cell, and violators were often placed there, but there were never any beatings. Basically, this was done in order to prevent or to smooth out the conflict between prisoners.

– What was the situation with food?

– As far as I was told, we had the best food in the entire prison system of Tajikistan. Indeed, we were fed well in the Special Zone, but often many prisoners received parcels from relatives. For example, for several years I only ate twice in the canteen of the colony.

– And what medical assistance did you receive if necessary?

– In addition to what was in the medical room, medicines were brought to us every month and distributed free of charge. It was mainly vitamins, but their expiration date was only 2-3 months or already expired.

– There is a version that many prisoners in the Special Zone are released long before the end of the sentence. Can you confirm or deny it?

– The Head of our colony, in principle, like all the staff, is a big fan of money. Therefore, after serving 1/3 of the sentence, paying a sizable amount, you can be transferred to a settlement colony. Many prisoners did like that… In general, I used to think that the most corrupt in Tajikistan are the Health and Education system. But, after I met with the Prison system, I clearly understood that it was beyond competition in terms of corruption. With money and connections, the prison is easily transformed into a good sanatorium.