Ufa woman recounts prison sentence for drug dealing

A resident of Ufa has recounted how she spent several years in correctional facilities for drug dealing. The woman said she served her sentence in a women«s colony, where she worked as a seamstress in extremely harsh conditions but held on in order to get out and get her daughter back. Her story is told in a UFA1.RU report.

I was 20 when my daughter was born. Her father was still living with us, but by then he was already steadily drinking himself into the ground — boozing, not working, and the only food regularly in the house was, more often than not, cat food. Of course he hadn«t been like that before we started dating, but later I watched his behavior without realizing the full seriousness of my situation. When you»re young, you don«t understand much.

I myself had training as a pastry chef, but I couldn«t earn decent money — on average it came to 12,000 rubles (about $150 at current rates) a month, which even by 2015 standards was pennies, especially when you have a child. Then they»d cheat you on your wages, then delay them. I was ashamed to ask my parents for money, but I decided things couldn«t go on like that.

I came across an ad online saying they needed drug stash couriers, and I agreed. There really was more money — they transferred almost 50,000 rubles ($630) — but most of it went on the job itself. I didn«t have a car of my own, and the stashes had to be delivered in the evenings when the buses weren»t running, so it was all taxis.

Taxi drivers were often surprised when I ordered addresses somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Many of them, of course, understood everything, but they probably just didn«t want to poke their noses into other people»s business. I was scared myself — you«re driving goodness knows where. But it was even scarier when they sent me to collect drugs near police stations, practically under surveillance cameras.

That went on for about two years, but in the end I was caught. When they said at trial that I would have to serve 11 years, I was horrified. My daughter was 4, I was still young myself, and my whole life seemed to have been crossed out. Then on appeal I got the sentence reduced — to 8 years.

I was sent to a colony in Mordovia (a republic in central Russia). As people who«ve been through it say, if you haven»t done time there, you haven«t done time at all. The conditions there really are harsh. Women»s colonies are generally meaner than men«s. We women are envious, so there were plenty of reasons for fights and beatings. More than once I had to stand up for myself. You could get it at work too.

The colony had a large production facility — they mainly made workwear for various companies, many of them household names. That«s where I was trained, and it»s not the kind of training courses you get on the outside. They don«t spend long with newcomers: a briefing, three days of wiping a cloth over the [sewing] table, and then into production. There the more experienced workers explain what»s what.

You can«t work badly, because you»ll be punished for it, but you can«t work too well either — otherwise you risk not getting out. I later filed several requests for a transfer closer to home, but as it turned out later, my documents simply never left the colony. It»s not in the administration«s interests to let a good worker go; there they»re worth their weight in gold.

Most of the convicts aren«t capable of any work at all. Out of 75 people, at best 15 can do anything. So those 15 get loaded to the maximum — the administration has a plan, and it has to be fulfilled whether you can manage or not; it»s calculated for everyone, so those capable of working do the plan both for themselves and for the 60 useless ones.

There were times when I barely got up from the table for three days. They wouldn«t even let us sleep, only go to the canteen. People fainted there. You sit there sleepy and hungry, sewing these workwear garments. You can»t bring food into the workshop. But not everyone in the colony is such a terrible person. Other girls secretly passed food to us; sometimes even the guards saw you were completely done in and brought you tea or coffee.

They did pay for work — after deductions for utilities it could come to about 300 rubles a month. Funny: for breaking the law I was sent somewhere you can«t rely on the law. A person without a core will break quickly there — if they get out, it won»t be for long.

Honestly, in the colony I hardly thought about what had become of my life. There was no time, and it wasn«t worth it. I read letters from my daughter, who was living with my mother and sister at the time, and I»d grab a moment to write back — somewhere in the canteen, on my knee, before they sent me back to work.

Later our colony was merged with another one that was partly disbanded. Among the newcomers were repeat offenders — that is, convicts who weren«t serving their first term. We barely crossed paths with them either at work or in daily life — except at mass events, when the warden wanted to give another speech.

After six years inside I finally managed to get transferred to a correctional center — that could already be counted as conditional early release. I was housed in a dormitory — separate men«s and women»s blocks, three rooms each, 15 people per room. I traveled to work on my own across town — like on the outside.

The shift was 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but I still had to work overtime. They could wake you in the middle of the night and say you needed to go on shift urgently. They«d shake you awake, you understand nothing, and off you go to work. You can»t refuse, because then they«ll quickly find some violation on your part and send you to the punishment cell.

They paid much more. They deducted for accommodation and food too, but you still got almost 24,000 rubles ($300) in hand. You could talk on the phone; I called my family and my daughter. Since I was locked up, her father turned up in her life a couple of times, and, as my mother told me, he even begged money from her himself. Then he was needed when my daughter had to sort out her documents. His relatives found him dead drunk and barely brought him round so he could sign the papers.

After so many years behind bars, a lot on the outside surprised me, as if everything had changed. I felt it especially strongly in Ufa when I saw how people dress. It«s as if they put on whatever fell out of two different wardrobes — from the nineties and the 2000s.

What conclusion did I draw when I got out? It«s too late to regret what»s done, but I don«t want to go back to prison again. Now I live in my own apartment and work as a seamstress too. But before I could rejoice at being back with my daughter, she was taken from me.

UFA1.RU previously reported that after her release Alfiya went to live with a new man. According to her, her daughter at first welcomed her stepfather, but because of problems at school and strict parental control she began quarreling with him and accused him of rape. His guilt has not been proven, but the man is being held in custody pending trial.

Now my daughter says she made it all up and that she regrets it, but now the investigator won«t accept her words, or doesn»t want to. I understand: if they had to admit that the indictment was built on false testimony, they could lose their epaulettes. The trial will be in October, and for now my daughter is being kept in a shelter and I«ve been ordered to pay child support. I earn about 24,000 rubles ($300), and after paying child support and the rent I»m left with somewhere around 5,000 rubles ($65), and I also visit the child and buy what she needs.

What«s more, before my release the guardianship authorities weren»t interested in the child«s life, since she had no official guardian near her. My mother went to the guardianship office, but they refused her custody and waved it off, as if to say, live as you live. They didn»t care that the child was living with her grandmother on her grandmother«s pension, and the grandmother was put in intensive care every six months.

Yes, it«s hurtful that things aren»t working out again, but don«t think I»m moping. I«ve already been through hell, and now I can»t give up. I will get my daughter back, and then we«ll get Semyon [the girl»s stepfather] back. Everything will be fine, you just have to hold on.

Also read the confession of a Ufa drug addict who started using substances back in his youth. According to him, it all began cheerfully and merrily, surrounded by a fun crowd, but in the end he was left without his health and realized that there was no trace of any friends at those parties.