Three quarters of a million people are currently in Russia's jails or remand centers. According to the latest figures from the Russian Government, there are 829,000 people serving prison sentences. Conditions are harsh. Many of these old Soviet era institutions are crumbling and badly under-funded.
Despite some progress, Russian prisons remain a breeding ground for disease and a jail sentence in Russia means time inside a grim institution, and also the real possibility of contracting a serious illness.
The White Swan is Russia's toughest Federal life-imprisonment camp, located in the Ural Mountains, and is home to some of Russia’s worst offenders, including serial killers, terrorists, cannibals. These inmates were originally sentenced to death but after a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, they will serve life in prison.
