As the human rights center "Viasna" reports, based on the received testimonies, the administration of the colony constantly puts pressure on women: they are forced to remove snow on the territory of the colony, to work almost without days off.
For fictitious reasons, reports are drawn up on them for "violation of the rules of the internal procedure" and they are deprived of parcels, meetings, and also placed in penal isolation and cell-type premises.
Work without days off and snow removal
According to human rights activists, the administration of Gomel colony No. 4 has started compiling lists of women who are conscripts.
For the past few months, women prisoners have been working only two days off a month.
At the same time, in their free time, they also have to constantly clean snow and go on duty.
Almost all Sundays are working days for women in the colony.
For talking about politics - penalty
Almost immediately upon arrival in the colony, the administration begins to demand that police prisoners sign a paper admitting guilt.
Women believe that it is important for the administration that a person admits his guilt in a correctional institution.
All political prisoners are almost immediately labeled as prone "to extremism and destructive activities", and some also as "prone to taking hostages and attacking the administration".
That is why all women convicted on political grounds go to the colony with yellow tags.
Communication between police prisoners is not welcomed by the administration, and for talking about political events in the country, they can be punished with days in the Shiza.
Although formally, the cause of the violation will have a different name.
Prisoners in the colony are in an information vacuum.
Propaganda news is the only source.
SHIZA, PKT, cold torture and initiation of a new criminal case
For violating the rules of the internal procedure (PUR), women are punished for days in a penal institution (SHIZA), and then transferred to a cell-type facility (PKT) for several months.
For example, the administration recently placed the activist
Alena Gnauk
from Pruzhany, a prisoner of war , in the PKT until February 24, and before that, she was detained in the Shiza for some time.
In November,
Maria Kalesnikova
was also sent to the penitentiary for 10 days , with whom the rest of the prisoners are forbidden to communicate in the colony.
The prison cell is very small and cold.
There is only a wooden "hole" that is unfastened from the wall from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
All the rest of the time, prisoners are allowed to either walk around the cell or sit on a stone "pouf", as the staff call it.
Bedding and linen are not provided.
It is forbidden for women to walk in the Shiza.
No calls, no parcels, no letters.
The light is on all the time.
There are windows in the cells, but there are very large gaps in the frames, through which there is always a draft.
Women's clothes are taken away and replaced with special clothes for the penitentiary.
Also, for more than a year and a half, according to the order of the colony's administration, police prisoners have not been given night jackets, so there is nothing to cover them with.
Women consider such conditions to be torture by cold.
"Collective responsibility"
Most often, the administration deprives women of parcels, appointments, or burdens women with duties.
There are known cases when pills, blades or needles can be thrown at them, for which reports are issued.
As additional pressure, "collective responsibility" is used - when the whole squad is punished for "violating the rules" by one woman.
The forms of punishment are different: standing for a few minutes to three hours in the yard and reading the PUR (internal rules) out loud, walking around the building or walking from the squad to the checkpoint (checkpoint) with all your belongings, boxes and bags.
Political prisoners are not provided with adequate medical care
In the colony, women are not allowed to keep most of their medicines with them, and for chronic diseases they get medicine from a paramedic every day after a long wait in line.
To get to the doctor and get more serious help, you need to write a special application and wait for your turn.
The list of medicines in the institution is very limited, so many women are constantly sick and their chronic diseases are aggravated.
According to the prisoners, it is very difficult to get into the sledge.
This can happen when the administration begins to worry not about the condition of the prisoner, but about the fact that there may be responsibility for not providing timely medical care.
It was the same with
Maria Kalesnikova
.
It was very cold in the penitentiary, where she was placed for 10 days, because of which the police prisoner almost did not sleep.
Several times she lost consciousness, she had increased blood pressure and nausea.
In addition, she lost consciousness in the shower and scratched her legs when she fell.
As a result, the political prisoner's health crisis began on November 28, when "excruciating pain in the stomach was added to problems with pressure, nausea and fainting."
After that, Kalesnikova underwent a laparoscopic operation and was kept in the sanatorium of the colony for some time.