Inside "Black Dolphin" Prison: An Inside Look at Russia‘s Infamous Incarceration Facility
Steel fences lined with barbed wire surround a foreboding compound, as watchtowers loom overhead and guards with rifles patrol the perimeter. This isn‘t a WWII POW camp – it‘s modern-day "Black Dolphin" Prison, home to some of Russia‘s most dangerous criminals.
Built in 2000 near the border of Kazakhstan, Black Dolphin was constructed to house the worst of the worst. We‘re talking convicted murderers, rapists, terrorists and the most hardened repeat offenders. It‘s Russia‘s only federal prison for prisoners serving life sentences, made to isolate these violent individuals from the outside world.
With four huge cell blocks radiating from a central guard station, Black Dolphin resembles the aquatic mammal it‘s named after. Each cell block consists of 200 solitary confinement cells on five tiers. Cameras track inmates‘ every move and double barriers prevent interaction between prisoners.
So what kind of criminals live out their days in this forbidding complex? Black Dolphin‘s corridors are stalked by all manner of violent sociopaths – serial killers, mob enforcers, kidnappers and the like.
Take Nikolai Mostalkin, former captain of an elite Russian military unit. In 1994, he was fired for selling weapons and ammunition, then convicted of double homicide. "I already got 135 years for manslaughter," he admits nonchalantly, "and then there was the premeditated murder on top of that."
Viktor Pesternikov is doing 25 years for armed assault and battery. Imprisoned for robbery and rape is Gennady Volkov, who says he has "no regrets" about his former life of crime. It‘s clear speaking to these men that conscience and remorse are in short supply.
The crimes that go on inside Black Dolphin are equally blood-curdling. In 2005, after an inmate fought with the prison administration, a group of prisoners conspired to strangle their fellow inmate and proceed to disembowel him. According to other prisoners, they removed the man‘s heart and liver, and ate them.
So in a way, Black Dolphin inmates have constructed their own heart of darkness inside the facility‘s walls. Deprived of freedom and human companionship, packs have formed within the cell blocks. These groups occasionally engage in deadly violence according to the laws of prison etiquette.
To mitigate violence, prisoners spend 23 hours a day locked in solitary confinement with minimal human contact. However, during daily exercise hour, the hallways fill with these violent predators let loose from their isolation. Outnumbered and surrounded by convicted murderers, the guards maintain a tenuous control fueled by threats and intimidation.
The Potential for Violence Simmers Under the Surface
As they‘re marched to exercise hour, inmates wear masks – not for disease prevention as in the outside world, but to conceal their faces from fellow prisoners. This prevents them from being targeted later in reprisal attacks from those they‘ve wronged or their associates.
Each morning, armored guards begin the meticulous process of releasing inmates from their cells in sequence. "Line up, hands behind your back!" they bark. "One by one, come forward!" Five stories of cell doors crack open simultaneously, and the cascade of prisoner footsteps creates an unsettling din. The guards know losing control for even a second could unleash lethal chaos.
Whilemaximum securityis crucial considering the homicidal killers imprisoned there, the extensive solitary confinement and deprivation of rights at Black Dolphin amounts to psychological torture, according to prisoners advocacy groups.
Locking a human being alone in a small cell for months or years on end is proven to cause lasting mental damage. Prisoners descend into despair, anxiety, rage, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. Yet at Black Dolphin, solitary with only an hour of daily exercise is the norm for inmates serving life sentences.
Viktor Pesternikov, the assault convict counting down to his eventual release, admits he finds himself overwhelmed with despair in his tiny, barren cell. "I don‘t really know how to convey what I feel," he says, eyes vacant. "How to live out the rest of my days here. At times I think it‘s more humane to just have me shot."
A Different Kind of Death Sentence
The question is – in locking up killers and throwing away the key, do we reduce ourselves to cruelty that violates human rights? Perhaps we must sacrifice some humanity in dealing with those who violently rejected it in others. Still, the suffering induced seems less about justice than retaliation.
The words of convict Sergei Lapin ring prophetic – "I think they should demolish this prison. It doesn‘t bring anything good to anyone – neither the prisoners, nor the state."
Past the heavy gates and coil upon coil of razor wire, Black Dolphin‘s cold halls contain dangers far worse than shanks and smuggled cigarettes. Here, less stable inmates deteriorate further into madness,addition, and self-harm.
While committing barbarous acts, some convicts were gripped by untreated mental illness or instability. Due to harsh sentencing for violent crimes, prisons like Black Dolphin house a disproportionate number of the mentally ill without proper psychiatric care.
Take serial killer Mikhail Popkov, ex-policeman and diagnosed schizophrenic serving life. Stalking his Siberian city by night, Popkov offered women rides, then raped and hacked them to death with an axe. Despite such severe illness, he‘s confined not cured inside Black Dolphin‘s punitive walls.
Or Dmitry Dudkin, insulin-dependent diabetic sentenced to 20 years for stabbings he claims not to recall. Prison doctors consider him mentally incompetent, however psychiatric confinementnitrous facilities are overcrowded. Instead Dudkin festersuntreated inside Black Dolphin.
At Black Dolphin‘s frozen heart is the sheer hopelessness ingrained in prisoners entombed for eternity. Gennady Volkov, recidivist robber, escaped in 2000 while being transported to court then murdered an elderly man. As punishment Volkov now faces "axes" – an additional 25 years without parole.
"Here your life no longer belongs to you, everything here goes against human nature,” Volkov laments. "I don‘t even know if I‘ll survive my term.” Like most at Black Dolphin, freedom lost sparks internal chaos far worse than external threats for Volkov.
Without hope, men discard discipline and destroy themselves through drinking, fighting, forbidden drugs. "It doesn‘t matter that we are locked up if we can get high on something," shares lifer Gennady Gorin, whose heroin addiction fuels his despair.
Sasha Blokhin is only 25, sentenced to 20 years. Severe drug withdrawal coupled with constant threats of violence plague his days. “It’s a nightmare I can’t wake from,” whispers Blokhin, trembling uncontrollably. "At least back in Moscow, I could score enough heroin not to be sick. In here, I truly have nothing.”
Blokhin speaks to a key irony – that caging men like caged beasts only encourages further violence. By isolating supposedly irredeemable men together rather than attempting rehabilitation, incarceration often worsens sociopathic traits.
Survival of the Most Ruthless & Callous
Inside the prisoners’ social hierarchy, empathy is weakness and only the vicious thrive. Blokhin explains, "Here it‘s the strong and ruthless at the top. They have no qualms about making weapons and using them.” Ironically Blokhin finds himself having to adopt the very callousness and capacity for violence that imprison him.
While the vast majority inmates at Orenburg’s Black Dolphin facility are men, approximately 68 women live separated on an upper floor ward. Less than two dozen female prisoners in all of Russia merit high security life imprisonment.
Feared as “theтеряют свои крылья (Butterflies Who Lost Their Wings)”, even guards call these women отбросы (garbage people). Among the condemned – babykillers, hostage takers, bombers and gang enforcers. Even by prison standards, rarely has one place held such concentrated female ruthlessness and depravity.
One notorious convict brutally murdered her husband only to continue running their criminal gang from inside prison. When shortage of地毯 for inmates was exposed, she had the official in charge kidnapped and beaten. He now refuses to so much as pass her hallway.
Then there’s Irina, former law student turned contract killer. She recounts assassinating multiple businessmen in Moscow, including one for her boss and lover. With twisted pride, Irina describes the elaborate plot she devised to poison the man by infiltrating his staff as a translator.
Like others serving life, none express regret over lives taken or ruined. Imprisoned together in two 100+ bed wards, the Butterflies scheme endlessly against imagined enemies and their own boredom. Backstabbing and vicious gossip plague their days according to guard accounts.
Occasionally one truly snaps – Tanya, Mob shopkeeper and convicted murderer, began refusing food and medicine recently. Diagnosed with consuming envy and paranoia, she now hardly sleeps either. “These witches are plotting against me, I know it. They think I’m already half dead,” she rasps. “But I’ll show them just how mean I can get."
Her illness progressing, Tanya threatens others more each day. The prison psychiatrist urges transferring her to a secure mental facility, fearing Tanya may harm herself or someone else. With Russia’s overtaxed psychiatric wards, however, years often pass before transfer is approved.
Thus Tanya perseverates endlessly on her persecution fantasies inside Black Dolphin. The Butterflies watch silently as she paces and mutters, their blank eyes seeing themselves reflected back in her madness.