Lefortovo prison is one of the most famous pre-trial detention centers in Russia. It was formed at the end of the XIX century. In the past, the prison instilled fear in everyone who knew about it. Despite the fact that Lefortovo is located in the very center of the capital, it is not quite easy to find it. A citizen who does not know anything about this prison can go around him several times a day and not even think that there is a prison behind a strong brick wall.
Short story
Lefortovo prison has existed for more than 130 years. During this time, she went through numerous changes. Its first building was erected in 1881 by the architect. In Soviet times, it was used to contain political prisoners and enemies of the people, many of whom were shot right here.
In the late sixties, the prison building on Lubyanka was closed, but the KGB retained the right to control Lefortovo and used it for prisoners who were opposed to the current regime and suspected of espionage and treason.
From 1990 to 2000, this detention center continued to be used for the same purpose. Opponents of the first president of Russia, as well as the defendants in the Yukos case, have been here.
Only in 2005, Putin signed a decree that all FSB prisons, including Lefortovo, are under the control of the Ministry of Justice.
Features
The Lefortovo prison is located almost in the heart of the capital, but no one can enter there, except for law enforcement officers and defenders of the accused. Many citizens can watch how special cars with suspects or convicts enter there, but even so, not everyone is aware of the fact that they are near the walls of the famous detention center.
The thing is that on one side of the prison’s location there is a residential high-rise building, which immediately distracts the attention of an uninitiated citizen, and the barbed wire above the high gate has long surprised no one. At the same time, one of the entrances to the isolator is located directly in the courtyard next to the bank and the playground.
Information
PKU pre-trial detention center 2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia is one of those places of isolation from society about which practically nothing is known and there is no historical information. Therefore, what kind of conditions of detention and internal equipment can be found only from those who have been there.
Despite the fact that this isolator back in 2005 fell outside the jurisdiction of the FSB and passed into the management of the Ministry of Justice, the strict regime and established procedures remain the same as they were before. Prison officials are still informing each other that they are taking the prisoner out of the cell by clicking with his fingers or twisting a metal circle in his hands that makes an unpleasant crack.
Entrance from the courtyard
This pre-trial detention center in Moscow is located almost in the center of the city. However, many people living in the area do not even know that the windows of their houses overlook the prison.
The passage of one of the insulator buildings is located directly in the courtyard of a high-rise building along Energetikov Street. Multiple cameras are installed here, the images from them go to the employee’s computer, which writes out passes to those who should or want to get inside Lefortovo. You can only move around the isolation ward accompanied by an employee of the authorities, so visitors who want to meet with the accused must adhere to all established rules.
The corridors here are quite narrow and confusing, as in any prison. A building that has three floors on one side can be four on the other, because it has been completed many times and has changed its appearance. Therefore, it is quite difficult for a person who has ever visited an isolation ward on an official visit to imagine his view from different angles.
Old secrets
Lefortovo prison was erected in 1881. Its main goal was to keep small officials who were caught in petty hooliganism. But after a while everything changed a lot.
A church was built above the prison entrance of that time, which only prisoners could attend to pray one at a time. After that, they tortured citizens and put death sentences into effect.
The most mysterious prison gives rise to many secrets, in its historical sources there is almost no information, and the one that is is classified.
Location
People who are the indigenous inhabitants of the capital do not always know the addresses of well-known state institutions. Such is the given pre-trial detention center. It is located at: Lefortovskiy Val, house 5, official transport only on this side, and you can enter through the checkpoint from Energetikov Street, house 3 "A".
Currently, the prison is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. The Lefortovo district, where the pre-trial detention center is located, is considered one of the most ancient and historical areas of the city. It is quite large in area, includes more than 50 industrial enterprises and zones, the population here is almost 100 thousand people.
Also, the Lefortovo district has a considerable number of educational institutions, an extensive tram network and a metro station.
Isolation mode
If we compare the Lefortovo prison with other pre-trial detention centers, then it has fairly good conditions for the detention of prisoners. At the same time, a very strict regime exists in the insulator. Relatives can not immediately meet with the suspects, in addition, instead of three, they give a maximum of only one hour to talk.
Many citizens, including employees themselves, note the fact that Lefortovo is one of the insulators where drugs or other harmful intoxicants will never get. It is also impossible to transfer a letter or a note from prison from prison.
You can transfer food and warm clothes for prisoners through a special room, which has an entrance from the side where the insulator address is indicated - Lefortovsky shaft, house 5. Nearby there is a high iron door to enter the territory of the prison for official vehicles with new arrivals.
The cells in the isolation ward are approximately 10 meters each, most of them are double, triple somewhat less, there are also single people. Despite the fact that the prison is quite old, redecoration is carried out there every year when it becomes warm. Therefore, many people who are there do not complain about the conditions of their stay here.
Prison device
Almost all the known information about Lefortovo is the memories of those people who visited here. These were mainly political figures, writers of various incriminating articles. Earlier in the isolator there were even psychic chambers that were painted black; light was constantly on in them. There was also a special pipe that simply jammed the prisoners. The passages were very confusing so that when leaving the cell the prisoners would not see each other. In the basement, people were shot to the noise of tractors.
Of course, Lefortovo today has a completely different, more modern look. The isolation ward is equipped with numerous cameras, but the signals of the prison guards in the form of finger-clicking, which they give each other when they bring the accused out of the cell, remain the same.
Prisoners
Persons who are in this prison are prosecuted for serious and even serious atrocities. Therefore, not everyone goes free from here. Basically, after the trial, people found guilty are sent to colony of general or strict regime. Even though the isolation ward is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB officers still continue to work with them and even oversee the prison in a certain way.
Who is in Lefortovo prison?
Currently, here is Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, who is the former deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for anti-corruption activities. He was accused of receiving a multi-million dollar bribe and taken into custody. He is now in the isolation ward and is complaining of poor health and bone pain. The lawyer is concerned about the health status of his client.
Here is the colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Mikhail Maksimenko. He was the security chief of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. He was also accused of receiving a large amount of money and taken into custody. He looks thin and pale because he doesn’t eat anything, although he is well fed in the prison.
Now the former governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh, who was taken into custody for receiving a large bribe, is also in Lefortovo prison. He also doesn’t eat much, because he has diabetes, sits on bread and water, waiting for the transfer of drugs.
Visitors to the detention center
At one time, there was a famous political scientist, writer Eduard Limonov. Until now, he claims that Lefortovo is one of the best prisons in Russia. It used to be more strict here than now, but the regime is still maintained.
Also here was Alexey Pichugin, who was the head of the security service of Yukos. He was found guilty of intentionally killing four people and he could not kill two more. Now Pichugin is serving a sentence of life imprisonment.
Amirov Said - a politician of Dagestan, was in this prison, was sentenced to isolation from society until the end of his life.
Reception of citizens
If a person needs to transfer things or food to his relative who is in the isolation ward, then you can apply here throughout the working week from 9 am to 4 pm.
To get a date, you must take permission from the investigator and go to the administration from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00.
Lefortovo's address remains the same, from the side of the entrance of company cars, you need to go through the door, located beyond the iron gate. You can go from the courtyard of the street Energetikov.
The place where the Lefortovo prison is located is not known to every native inhabitant of the capital. And the person who first decided to visit Moscow may get confused and not find the way to the isolation ward. Therefore, before the trip, you must carefully study the entire route and time of movement of vehicles.
Letters
By law, it is not forbidden to send messages by mail, but they will be read without fail, and only after that they will be transmitted to the prisoner, unless, of course, there are forbidden words there.
Fixed shoots
Officially, only a few people escaped from the Lefortovo prison.
In 1994, two prisoners painted a prison fence. Waiting for the moment when the guards were distracted, they climbed over it. The fugitives were caught the next day.
In March 2005, the 27-year-old Kyrgyz, who was convicted of robbery, cleaned the snow on the roof of a pre-trial detention center and decided on such a selfless act. He was also detained a few days later. Then several security officers of the Lefortovo prison were punished.
In 2001, the deputy general director of Aerofolot Glushkov was detained, who was trying to leave the clinic where he was treating an exacerbated blood disease. Two employees of the detention center were also arrested, who helped him plan the escape.
However, such information is not always true, some of the former employees report that there were much more such persons. It’s just that not all data was voiced in the media.
Distinctive features of the prison
The Lefortovo pre-trial detention center looks like a four-story building. At the same time, each of them has 50 cameras. In total, up to two hundred convicts are kept here. Only some journalists and not all lawyers are allowed to go to prison. Any relations regarding the transfer of funds between convicts are completely absent.
In addition, from certain and reliable information, there is only a plan of the isolator itself, while not everyone considers it to be fully designed, since the building was completed and modified many times.
In the Soviet period, the KGB generally forbade writing anything about this prison. All the information available at that time was simply taken from their authors, and the latter sent to the isolation ward.
In modern times, the conditions of prisoners are known only from the lips of themselves. There are two or three people in the cells. In addition, a video surveillance system operates here.