The Current Issue

No. 53-2017

Nevolia Journal No. 53-2017, PDF, Russian

In this edition of Nevolya magazine:

The rubric Social Punishment opens with the Penal Department’s statistical report on the current state of the penal system in Russia as per June 1, 2017, and with Yuri Aleksandrov’s Legal Practice column explaining the latest changes to legislation regulating the judiciary, law enforcement, and executive branches of power. That is followed by more of Fima Zhiganets’ funny sketches, titled “Zoo Tales 6”, in which an old zoo worker, all permeated with prison subculture, shares his experiences with a novice, while not actually differentiating zoo routine from that of his life in labour camp where he spent many years. Boris Panteleyev, in his “Jail-Breaks”, not only recalls not only famous jail-breaks of the past, but also of the latest “achievements” in this area. A pretty phantasmagoric story, “Obsession” by Boris Zemtsov, despite its outwardly loose connection with reality, is nevertheless based on the author’s recollections of his time in labour camp. In the Prison News column, Alexander Sukharenko provides a review of reports obtained from official penal bodies and media. The issue, as usual, features records by the Prisoner Rights Defence Foundation about events and incidents within the penal system. The rubric closes with Alexander Sukharenko’s article “Keeping Legalists in Check”.

The next section, Boundaries of Incomprehension, features two short stories by Alexander Avgust – “Without the Right to Be Amnestied” (continued from Nevolya # 51) and “Menagerie”, both describing day-to-day life in psychoneurological homes, where many inmates find it much harder to live than in labour camps.

The History rubric opens with Alexander Sidorov’s absorbing article “Dates of Different Kinds”, in which the author explores how the phrase “fix a date” emerged in prison jargon. The rubric and issue conclude with several book reviews by Alexei Mokrousov.