Isolation and secrecy: What are Russia's notorious penal colonies?

Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was convicted of espionage in Russia on Friday and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

His lawyers can file an appeal, but if they don't or are unsuccessful, Gershkovich will have to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony, where conditions will be harsh.

Gershkovich could still be pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly in conjunction with a potential prisoner swap with the United States.

Russia has accused Gershkovich of spying, charges that he, his employer and the US government have denied. All three have described the charges as politically motivated.

What happens next?

When his sentence begins, Gershkovich will be transferred into Russia's sprawling system of penal colonies, probably traveling in a special prison railway car to the penal colony, which has not yet been named.

Such trips can be arduous, with prisoners isolated from the outside world and their relatives unaware of their whereabouts before they reach their final destination.

Last year, Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who died in prison in February, described his 20-day journey from central Russia to a penal colony in the Arctic. (Such a trip would normally take about 40 hours by train.)

Where was Gershkovich held before?

Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, a major industrial city east of Moscow. For more than a year, he was held in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison, which is typically reserved for high-profile inmates.

Living conditions in Lefortovo are not the toughest, but prisoners there are notoriously isolated from one another and from the outside world.

Interrogations take place in the prison, and inmates are only given one hour a day outside of their small cells to walk in courtyards on the roof. Gershkovich used some of his time in Lefortovo to read through Russian literary classics such as "War and Peace."

What are penal colonies?

Penal colonies evolved from the gulags that once dotted Russia in the 1930s, after the Russian Revolution. Prisoners often live collectively in groups called brigades, carrying out daily tasks in low-lying buildings surrounded by barbed wire.

The sprawling penal colony system is often shrouded in secrecy, characterized by drawn-out transfers between prisons and scant communication on where a particular prisoner might be expected to serve out his sentence.

Prisoners are typically barred from outside communication as they are being moved.

What are the conditions in the colonies?

The colonies range from high to low security, but some locations have a reputation for being particularly hellish, even among Russia's most hardened criminals.

Gershkovich has been sentenced to serve time in a high-security colony. Testimony from those who have been imprisoned in the Russian penal system paints a grim picture of what he might expect.

Other high-profile prisoners, such as Navalny, spent time in high-security colonies known for brutal conditions. In his final days, Navalny was imprisoned at Penal Colony No. 3, in the desolate Yamalo-Nenets region, known for its intolerably cold temperatures.

The colony is also notorious for its beatings and severe isolation.

Other locations, such as Penal Colony No. 2, where Navalny was also once held, have reportedly been governed by criminal gangs in partnership with Russian authorities.

There are female penal colonies as well, such as at IK-2, in Yavas, where American basketball player Brittney Griner was imprisoned before being released in a prisoner exchange in 2022.