A Physician's Tour in Soviet Russia by James Purves-Stewart

Author:James Purves-Stewart [Purves-Stewart, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 20th Century, Autobiography, Biography, History, Modern, Non-Fiction, Russia, Soviet Union
ISBN: 9781351621304
Google: 7ggqDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

THE HOLY FATHER AND HIS HOLY SON

The Editor of the Morning Post, with his anti-soviet propaganda bludgeon, receiving a special blessing from the Pope of Rome

August 26th

The PRISON, or CORRECTIONAL COLONY,of Levortovski, was formerly a military prison with 205 cells for solitary confinement. The cells are arranged in four long galleries, each of three storeys, radiating from a centre. It now houses 615 prisoners, three in a cell. This particular “colony” has been running for two years. Since the Revolution ten prisons in Moscow have been demolished and never rebuilt. This is one reason why the present prisons are so crowded. In this colony only male prisoners are admitted. Most of them are first offenders; a few are recidivists. The chief crimes for which “treatment” is given are robbery with violence, theft, embezzlement, rape, and murder. The maximum penalty, even for murder, is ten years. The only crimes for which the death penalty is now exacted are (1) counter-revolutionary activities, (2) organized murders by bands of criminals, and (3) group raping, an offence rarely heard of outside Russia. Seldom does a murderer on the expiry of his “treatment” commit a second murder; if he does, he is executed. Educated prisoners receive heavier sentences than illiterate ones.

Each cell is fitted with a radio loud-speaker above its door. The beds are clean and comfortable. The barred windows are large. The doors of the cells are left wide open, except between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., so that prisoners can visit each other freely. One cell, which we passed, had been padlocked on the outside by the prisoner himself. Presently he turned up, opened the padlock, and welcomed us to his cell. He was a stout elderly gentleman, who informed us that he had been sentenced to ten years’ confinement for embezzlement of 71,000 roubles from a sugar trust. He is leaving to-day in high spirits, having, by his industry and good conduct, served exactly six years, ten months, and fifty-seven days. He told us that he has secured a secretarial post in the office of the Commissary of Trade at a salary of 700 roubles a month, and will take up his new duties forthwith.

Meals are served to the prisoners in their cells, but a comfortable communal dining-room will presently be built. Each prisoner is expected to work eight hours a day, knocking off for a meal. There are two separate shifts of workers. If he is illiterate, this defect must be “liquidated,” and he must learn to read and write, being instructed by fellow-prisoners who were teachers in civil life. Non-illiterate prisoners are employed in one or other of the various prison factories, chiefly in spinning, weaving, tailoring, and embroidering. For this work the pay is from 30 to 35 roubles a month. This amount is placed to each man’s account, to be handed to him on leaving. He is allowed to spend a certain proportion on clothes, tobacco, etc., but not on alcohol. He has a week’s holiday in his

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