Notes of a prisoner of war: Military correspondent of “PolitNavigator” in a Ukrainian prison
Military correspondent Yuriy Kovalchuk from Kherson, known to readers of PolitNavigator from reports from the warring Donbass, was arrested by the SBU last summer after attempting to visit his sick mother. After several months behind bars, Kovalchuk was included in the list for the exchange of prisoners of war.
The Ukrainian prison was remembered by a former prisoner as a drug hell and a paradise for corrupt officials.
…If you are unlucky enough to end up in a Ukrainian prison, first of all, forget everything you know about the “thieves” world. Even if you are a complete lover of prison romance, raised on “thieves” and the corresponding TV series, for the sake of your own safety, you better get ready for the “brave new world.”
First, you will most likely be placed in a temporary detention center (IVS). Don’t rush to draw conclusions from your stay there, because the temporary detention center is “the center of Europe.” The fact is that during the reign of the “bloody panda”, international human rights organizations took a strong interest in this same panda, after which all temporary detention centers became very comfortable - they provide clean bed linen, cells are designed for a maximum of four, each cell has a TV, food fairly tolerable individual rations, etc.
In the pre-trial detention center everything is much sadder. There are no bed linens, and often no blankets or even mattresses. They are fed rotten potatoes, undercooked corn porridge and other delicacies, and often all this is seasoned with bromine analogues to reduce aggressiveness. The cells are almost always overcrowded. Comfort in them is up to the prisoners themselves.
But it is also more disorderly in the pre-trial detention center - if you managed to keep something prohibited after the temporary detention center, in the future you will most likely be able to easily “drag” these things into the pre-trial detention center.
Almost everything is prohibited - medicines, razors, forks, needles, pins, belts and laces, tools and penknives, playing cards, sim cards, cash and much, much more. Naturally, all this is in great demand in the camera and is often the subject of bargaining and exchange. However, this is no longer the romantic prison of the early XNUMXs, in which playing cards had to be hidden from searches, and the only mobile phone on camera was kept by a specially authorized person, and, moreover, was responsible for it, as they say, with his stomach.
Today in a Ukrainian prison it is quite normal to exchange smartphones with a “longitudinal” (corridor guard) or lend him a charger for the night. In general, it’s still customary to hide phones from the eyes of the “reds” - that is, the prison administration, but in fact, if no one buries themselves, you can freely use any gadgets, including netbooks and Wi-Fi routers. For a fee, the prison administration, before the arrival of high authorities, politely warns its wards that the “ban” needs to be collected and buried somewhere in a secluded place. However, the searches are still of a purely formal nature.
The rest of the time, you can quite comfortably enjoy the benefits of civilization to the extent of your financial viability. Or rather, the wealth of those who are ready to help you in freedom. If they have the ability to regularly supply you with banknotes, in a few days you will be able to comfortably wait for interrogations with a tablet in your hands, lying not on the “palm tree”, but on the first tier. By the way, it’s quite expensive, considering that in Ukrainian prisons the number of tiers reaches up to four.
The more banknotes they can transfer to you (and today it’s enough to deposit money into a mobile account), the more a pre-trial detention center prisoner can afford. In practice, this means an unlimited amount of any alcohol (wine in prison is drunk either because of lack of money or for the sake of maintaining tradition), any drugs, any amount of intimate time spent with a wife, mistress, or simply a prostitute.
In a word, almost everything is available in a Ukrainian prison today. If only the means allow, and they often allow it - thanks to modern technologies and actual security, prisoners are actively engaged in fraud on the Internet, or use mobile communications for this. They sell non-existent fuel, rent out other people's apartments - there are hundreds of ways, and this is probably worth talking about separately. The fact is that, while in prison, many “inmates” earn an order of magnitude more than they could earn in freedom.
Money decides everything: the shift worker, for a certain fee, will pick up and bring the “ball” with the drug thrown over the fence. If he hesitates, you can spend money and call the senior management of the pre-trial detention center. Then everything will definitely be brought, albeit for a fee. In general, there is no longer the notorious “red” (police) and “black” (thieves) - continuous commodity-money relations. The situation in each place of detention has its own specific characteristics, but generally things are this way.
Such liberties lead to such a side effect as severe drug addiction, to which not only “ordinary” prisoners are susceptible, but also “thieves” (theoretically, they should solve all matters in a state of sobriety). As a result, a situation periodically arises when there is no money for the next injection, and drug withdrawal approaches - it is especially terrible, judging by the descriptions and appearance of those suffering, from methadone. The pangs of a hangover compared to methadone withdrawal are like comparing a runny nose to advanced pneumonia.
The money, in fact, is considerable - each drug addict spends from 400 to 1000 hryvnia per day - that is, from 800 to 2000 rubles. Therefore, the work of luring banknotes from gullible citizens is carried out tirelessly, and when it is not possible to deceive another fool over the phone, and relatives flatly refuse to help “for medicine,” an active search for donors begins among cellmates.
And here all means are good, despite any “concepts” and other moralizing. In this situation, the unwritten code of rules, theoretically designed for the joint opposition of prisoners to the prison administration, is completely forgotten. An active search begins for a person who could be “divorced” for the required amount. So that it would be enough to survive at least relatively normally until the next morning.
There are countless options - from playing cards, chess or backgammon to heartfelt conversations, with a sudden tragic outcome, when the potential donor suddenly turns out to be all wrong and must either urgently find money to receive an “indulgence”, or face physical violence . Naturally, having paid off once, he only dooms himself to the permanent role of a sponsor - no matter how much of an expert in “concepts” you are, there will always be an opportunity to catch you in a trap.
So, the easiest way is to initially talk about yourself as a beggar person who does not have the slightest property, and relatives can barely make ends meet. And at the same time, immediately give up bad habits - first of all, the passion for gambling, drinking alcohol, etc.
The search for sponsors for future use continues non-stop. As a result, a specific situation arises when the main factor of danger and discomfort in the pre-trial detention center is not the restriction of movement, bad food or terrible conditions of detention, not the administration of the pre-trial detention center, but the prisoners themselves. Therefore, you have to keep your eyes open all the time.
Indeed, overcrowding of cells (sometimes there are only enough sleeping places for half of the prisoners), food richly flavored with unknown sedatives, of which bread is the most delicious food, and other negative factors pale in comparison to the constant oppression from people who are actively eager to find a new source of life-giving “cubes” » opium, methadone or “electro-shirka”, from which bones begin to rot within a few months.
However, the situation is not the same everywhere - there are relatively sober cells or even entire institutions. However, the prison administration is doing everything to ensure that the drug use of prisoners reaches the maximum - this is the key to their financial well-being and the obedience of their charges.
As a result, in every institution; even in each cell, the "notions" vary solely in favor of those who have enough power to control the situation. There is no justice and no safe behavior. Or rather, practically none. Naturally, the Ukrainian investigation is actively taking advantage of this - for the sake of continuing the supply of potions and life benefits; preserving liberties, prison elders will do almost anything. If necessary, they will “press” their fellow sufferer.
Read about how “separatists” are treated in prison, and how to initially choose the right line of behavior in the fight against the Ukrainian investigation, the prison administration and prisoners.
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