A country within a country

  • 2008-08-07
  • By TBT Staff

BREAKOUT?: Not likely at Estonia`s hi-tech prison.

Not a single prisoner or prison guard is going to let you interview them, and none will  go on the record," Jaanus T., a former prisoner, told a reporter from The Baltic Times when asked about prison culture.
 T. explained that a prison is a country within a country. "It doesn't matter if you try to talk to a prisoner [or a] guard 's they are all stuck in the middle," T. said.

The hunger strike began in late July at Tallinn Prison and is ongoing. On July 24, one prisoner died, though authorities believe the death was not directly related to the hunger strike.

The Baltic Times reported earlier that the detainees were striking to protest against being served food by a former inmate of Murru Prison first department, which detainees believed was reserved for less respected criminals. The Ministry of Justice has strenuously denied that the detainee at the center of the hunger strike is either a sex offender or sexually abused by other prisoners.

But the story behind the hunger strike and prison culture is much more complex than most people imagine. The Baltic Times did manage to find a few people who would talk, and the prison culture we uncovered involves sexual abuse, power structures, sadistic mind-games and corrupt prison guards.

T. was a white-collar criminal. He now works as a carpenter but was a teacher before being jailed for extortion.
T. describes a prison culture in which the strong prey on the weak. He said in his time inside, the prisoners become sexually frustrated in jail and often force those they consider weak to do things they wouldn°t otherwise do.
"Psychologically, [the mentally weaker ones] are suppressed down. No one's hurting them physically, but they're told to go here and go there. In one word, they must do those things that … There's no women in prison," T. said.
In the past, this situation used to be exacerbated by the fact that inmates in Estonia were held in open dormitories rather than cells, which meant that when the lights went out, they could do what they liked to other prisoners. Communication between inmates was also much easier.
It was precisely to stop this type of abuse and hierachy system between inmates that the country switched from a dormitory system to a cell-based one, with less prisoners in a cell.
 Corruption is still rife in the prison system. Prison guards, despite earning higher than median salaries in Estonia  are still bribery according to our sources.

"If I give you 5000 kroons [319 euros], the door of my cell will be open and I can do whatever I want," T. said.
Another prisoner, V., has a position of some authority in the criminal underworld and agreed to talk only if his identity was protected. He explained that if exposed, he could lose his status.

There is a hierarchy in prisons that detainees still follow to some level. Though things have improved since Soviet times, TBT's sources said the old power structure still exists.
"To have any chance in prison you need money from outside," explained V.
"I've seen guards bring amphetamines for the prisoners. For the right price, you can get anything," he said.
The former inmate explained that money can help a prisoner in various ways 's owning 20 packs of cigarettes, for example, allows you to make people do things that nobody wants to do.
Prisoners with money also don't have to eat the prison cafeteria food, which means that by living on food from the prison store, they can start a hunger strike without skipping a meal.

 The majority of prisoners don't have the money to eat solely from the prison store, and they suffer the most during hunger strikes. Those who choose to eat from the cafeteria are considered weak. To get money and protection, many join a gang.
"Once you join a gang, they own you. You have to pay them when you leave, and you have to do whatever they ask you to do," V. explained. He added that often, young men who join gangs are forced to do the very things that they joined the gang to avoid.

Estonian prison gangs are based on region, as opposed to the race-based gangs in American and British jails.
V., who went to jail after what he called an accident, said he got along well with men from Narva despite being ethnically Estonian.

The authorities have had some success in eroding prison culture, but many problems still remain.
There are five prisons in Estonia, holding a total of about 3,500 prisoners, 150 of whom are women. Viru Prison, the newest, officially opened July 28, though it had been functioning for months before then.
There was a much larger prison population during the Soviet era 's 7,500 prisoners in 1986. The number dropped to 4,576 in 2003. There were 3,582 detainees in Estonia as of Aug. 1.
Experts say that one important reason for crime is the collapse of village community life, followed by migration to the cities for work.

"When a person isn't connected to his or her home place that strongly anymore, social control over their behavior weakens," Mart Silivask of the Ministry of Justice said in a press release.
The ministry insists that prisoner subculture and its hierarchy don't play a large role in prison life anymore.
"To talk today about unwritten laws in prison is more like a conspiracy theory. The organization of prison has strengthened, and median punishment time is shorter, which is why detainees think about how to organize their lives after getting free instead of how to earn appreciation among fellow prisoners," Silivask said.
However official figures don't back up a ministry claim that there is no culture of criminality. According to ministry figures 75 percent of prisoners eventually return to jail. The average prison term is 4.1 years.
Despite assurances by officials that the prison system is improving, some of TBT's sources admit that there are still huge problems.

"When you're an honest thief, then you are safe in prison. When you tell someone's secrets, then you become a 'woman'," said Liisa Mets, who is currently working in the prison system.
Mets said that there is a saying in prison: "Bird flu took a kukk." It means someone has been killed.
Contrary to popular belief, there is little physical violence in Estonian prisons; those who run the show usually prefer psychological torture.

Vacheslav Morkov, a former prison guard, told TBT that the current strike was nothing more than the psychological torture of a detainee who is considered weak.
"They strike because the detainee serving the food is a 'woman'," he said.