What awaits Navalny in the next 2.5 years at Penalty Colony IK-2

After a long day, sleeping is not easy. “We had one hour of personal time between 9pm and 10pm to read or write a letter. It was forbidden at any other time. At 10pm the lights went out immediately.” After that, the prisoners would wake up every hour with a flashlight on their face to make sure everyone was there.

About 800 people can stay in the IK-2 penalty colony. Prisoners live on two storey rocks. In each room they sleep in punk beds with a hundred people. Each year, an inmate officially receives six short four-hour visits and four long three-day visits from family or friends.

In addition, a prisoner is allowed to receive six parcels per year containing outdoor items. It is still questionable whether Navalny is allowed to do all this in practice.

‘No audience, speaking forbidden’

Dmitry Demushkin, a nationalist who had to work for two years at IK-2 to incite hatred, paints a different picture on the Russian news site Znak.com. “During those two years I was not allowed to receive any spectators. I only saw my lawyer twice, where I was only allowed to speak under the supervision of the guards and after the mirror.” He only got a few letters from outside, no question about packages with things.

Demushkin also describes in an interview that the prisoners were constantly under the control of the guards. “We must always keep our hands behind our backs and keep our heads down when we are outside our cells. It is forbidden to speak or walk freely; we have to sit, stand or obey other commands.”

Demushkin continues to say that he was always cold and hungry. “105 pounds when I got in, 60 when I got out of jail, my ribs were sticking out.”