A Look Inside Russia’s Polar Wolf Penal Colony

(IntegrityPress.org) – Alexey Navalny, the 47-year-old Russian opposition leader, was recently found dead in one of Russia’s most brutal penal colonies. In December, Navalny was moved to the colony, called IK-3, which is very close to the arctic circle. The colony is known for its extreme isolation and harsh living conditions.

Navalny faced a lot of issues and prosecution from the Russian Government for his open criticism and political standing. In 2020 he survived a poisoning with a nerve agent, Novichok. Despite the risks, he returned to Russia in January 2021, only to be immediately arrested upon arrival. In February 2021, Navalny received his initial three-year prison sentence, which was later extended by nine years in March 2022 and an additional 19 years in August.

Navalny had referred to IK-3 penal colony as “Polar Wolf” and humorously dubbed himself “your new Santa Claus” in a December post on Twitter, expressing a positive mood despite the gruelling conditions and the nearly 3-week journey to the colony. Navalny’s death in the penal colony was confirmed by Russia’s Federal Prison Service. There is no official cause of death yet, and whatever cause the Russian government decides on may not be trustworthy.

While Navalny maintained a light-hearted tone in some of his posts about prison life, the reality of Russian penal colonies is grim. The US State Department’s 2022 report on human rights practices in Russia highlighted harsh and life-threatening conditions, including abuse by both guards and inmates, limited healthcare access, food shortages, and lack of cleanliness.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior spokesperson at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, emphasised that Russian penal institutions are notorious for having awful conditions. She said the point of these colonies is to cause profound and lasting physical and psychological harm to inmates. The prisons are known for their dispiriting atmosphere, and as described by Stanovaya, are a reflection of the challenging and brutal realities faced by individuals within the Russian penal system.