The diet within Russian prisons has been a subject of scrutiny and reform throughout history, reflecting broader socio-political trends and evolving understandings of human rights and nutritional needs. This article examines the historical context of Russian prison diets, their composition, and the impact on prisoners' health and well-being, drawing upon historical accounts, research, and contemporary reports.
Historical Overview: From Tsarist Oppression to Gulag Deprivation
Tsarist Era: Hunger Strikes as a Form of Protest
In the late 19th century, Russian prisons under the Tsarist regime were notorious for their harsh conditions. Political prisoners often faced oppressive treatment, leading to acts of resistance such as hunger strikes. An extract describes how in 1878, male political prisoners in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg went on a hunger strike to protest against the oppressive conditions. The director dismissed their pleas and reportedly declared of the hunger strikers, “Let them die; I have already ordered coffins for them all.” These strikes, documented in sources like "Free Russia," were not merely about obtaining better food but were a form of political expression and a desperate attempt to draw attention to their plight. The news of Mezentsev's response spread quickly beyond the strikers' families, soon reaching a would-be terrorist and former artillery officer, Sergius Kravchinskii. Kravchinskii killed Mezentsev with a dagger on a city street, then fled Russia and made his way to Great Britain, a haven for Russian revolutionaries since Alexander Herzen had arrived in 1852 and established the first Russian revolutionary press abroad. Kravchinskii likewise wrote against the tsarist regime, under the pen name Sergius Stepniak, and in 1890 he became the editor of a new, London-based periodical, Free Russia. Its first number chronicled a dramatic series of hunger strikes led by female revolutionaries imprisoned at Kara in the Trans-Baikál of eastern Siberia. These strikes had culminated in the death of one woman after she was flogged and in five suicides by female and male political prisoners who, after the death of their comrade, had ended their hunger strikes to eat poison. Having been inspired to terror by his sympathy for revolutionary hunger strikers, Stepniak, like other Russian exiles, believed that the hunger strike would win sympathy and support for Russian revolutionaries in Britain.
The Gulag System: A Struggle for Survival
The Soviet era, particularly during the Stalinist period, saw the rise of the Gulag system, a network of forced labor camps where millions suffered under inhumane conditions. Food in the Gulag was a matter of survival, with prisoners receiving meager rations that barely sustained life. The prisoners were offered kasha, a vegetable stew with its content “depend[ing] on the kind of vegetable it provided” that season tasteless Chinese oatmeal which turned solid when it went cold; and a single piece of bread. Accounts from former Gulag inmates, such as those documented by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, highlight the critical role food played in their lives. Food is an incredibly critical part of any living being’s life and for most people, it is a very enjoyable part. However, though the prisoners of the Gulag were lucky enough to eat a meal, they were only offered it two times a day and were fed food in low quality. In spite of the fact that the food was in bad quality, the prisoners of the Gulag would find a way to steal extra rations for themselves in order to keep themselves full and to give themselves enough energy for the work the were required to do every day (though it was not enough; it kept them alive and working, but not healthy). Another thing that made food important role in their lives was that because they were offered so little of it and in small rations, it still would not satisfy them, leaving them hungry. That hunger eventually controlled the prisoners to commit actions against the prison laws. As mentioned above, prisoners of the Gulag would find a way to get extra rations for themselves by either sneaking it out of the cooks hand while he was serving, by doing duties for the chef, or even by swipe it out from the attention of other prisoner’s. The main character, Ivan Denisovich, even went as far as to sew hidden pockets into his jacket and create a hole in his mattress to hide a portion of his bread when he was not able to complete his breakfast. At one point during the Gulag, the officers in the prison “were so scared of the quarter pound hunks” (Solzhenitsyn, p. 16) that they required every prisoner keep their ration of bread in a wooden box. This, in turn, added additional worry and stress to the prisoners as they believed someone else would take their ration, which led to fights and quarrels among the prisoners. Finally, food during the Gulag formed a bribing system among the occupants. There was one prisoner named Tsezar who received “two food parcels a month” (Solzhenitsyn, p. 24) from the outside world containing various goods and was so well fed from it that it did not look like he was an inmate. This prompted other inmates to ask for special favors and for officers to be more lenient with him in exchange for something in one of Tsezar’s parcels. Helping the inhabitants stay alive, controlling the prisoners, and it’s part in forming a bribing system among the occupants was one of the many roles that food played during the Gulag.
World War II: The Treatment of Soviet Prisoners of War by Nazi Germany
The diet of Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) held by Nazi Germany during World War II was deliberately designed to cause starvation and death. German political and military leaders regarded Soviet POWs not only as racially less valuable but as potential enemies, obstacles in the German conquest of "living space." The Nazi regime claimed that it was under no obligation for the humane care of prisoners of war from the Red Army because the Soviet Union had not ratified the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, nor had it specifically declared its commitment to the 1907 Hague Convention on the Rules of War. Technically both nations, therefore, were bound only by the general international law of war as it had developed in modern times.
Soviet prisoners of war were the first victims of the Nazi policy of mass starvation in the east. In August 1941, the German army set a ration of just 2,200 calories per day for working Soviet prisoners of war. Even this was not enough to sustain life for long, but in practice the POWs received much less than the official ration. Many Soviet prisoners of war received at most a ration of only 700 calories a day. Within a few weeks the result of this "subsistence" ration, as the German army termed it, was death by starvation. The POWs were often provided, for example, only special "Russian" bread made from sugar beet husks and straw flour. View of a camp for Soviet prisoners of war, showing the holes dug into the ground that served as shelter. The camp was located south of Hamburg in northern Germany. The Germans made little provision to shelter most of the prisoners they took from the Soviet military. Eventually the Germans established makeshift camps but the lack of proper food, clothing, and shelter took a terrible toll. Often the prisoners had to dig holes in the ground as improvised shelter from the elements. By the end of 1941, epidemics (especially typhoid and dysentery) emerged as the main cause of death. In October 1941 alone, almost 5,000 Soviet POWs died each day. Two malnourished Soviet prisoners of war, survivors of the Hemer prisoner of war camp in western Germany. More than three million Soviet prisoners of war died in German custody, mostly from malnutrition and exposure.
Read also: Zesty Keto Dressing
Contemporary Russian Prison Diet: Regulations and Realities
Legal and Regulatory Framework
Today, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) is responsible for the administration of prisons and the provision of food to inmates. Russian law stipulates that prisoners must receive a nutritionally adequate diet that meets basic health requirements. The specific norms are defined in regulations and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Justice and FSIN.
Nutritional Standards and Menu Composition
The current standards dictate the caloric content and composition of meals, including the types and quantities of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. The diet typically includes:
- Bread: A staple food, usually dark rye bread.
- Grains: Porridges made from buckwheat, oatmeal, or barley.
- Soups: Often based on seasonal vegetables.
- Meat and Fish: Provided in limited quantities, usually boiled or stewed.
- Vegetables: Cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and beets are common.
- Dairy: Milk, kefir, or yogurt.
- Fats: Vegetable oil or margarine.
Challenges and Discrepancies
Despite the regulations, the quality and quantity of food in Russian prisons often fall short of the prescribed standards. Overcrowding, corruption, and inadequate funding contribute to these issues. Reports from human rights organizations and former prisoners indicate that:
- Insufficient Portions: Prisoners may receive smaller portions than legally mandated.
- Poor Quality: Food quality can be low, with spoiled or substandard ingredients.
- Lack of Variety: The monotonous diet lacks essential nutrients and can lead to health problems.
- Corruption: Embezzlement of funds intended for food purchases can reduce the quality and quantity of provisions.
Impact on Prisoners' Health
The inadequate diet in Russian prisons has significant health consequences for inmates. Malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, and weakened immune systems are common, increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, are also exacerbated by poor nutrition.
Dietary Supplements and Behavior
Adolescents are currently estimated to commit around 23% of all police-recorded crime in England and Wales but account for less than 10% of the population. There have been a number of influential longitudinal studies that have tried to identify the developmental correlates of delinquency. One of the best know was the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development that studied 411 boys from childhood to age 40, where 40% were convicted of at least one criminal offence by age 32. A small 6% subgroup of the cohort was responsible for around 50% of all the officially recorded crime. These persistent recidivists tended to begin their criminal careers at the earliest ages. Another element of this might be exposure to nutrient antagonists such as lead, which is a potent neurotoxin with life-course effects on behaviour. It was routinely added to petrol until the late 1980s, when countries began to legislate for its removal. Nevin has shown very strong statistical associations on a post hoc basis between childhood exposure to lead and subsequent crime rates over several decades in the USA, Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Finland, Italy, West Germany and New Zealand. This relationship has also been demonstrated prospectively, and has been shown to reduce brain grey matter volume in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex that are responsible for executive functions, mood regulation, and decision-making. These findings were more pronounced for males, suggesting that lead-related atrophic changes have a disparate impact across genders, which is consistent with crime trends. Lead also alters white matter via the expression of genes essential in myelin formation, so its effects are heritable.
Read also: Delightful Keto Dessert
There are increasingly good reasons to believe that the health benefits of good nutrition extend into positive effects on our behaviour and cognition. A number of cross-sectional studies have identified inverse associations between the estimated nutritional quality of diets consumed and behavioural health in adults, including prospective studies of behavioural problems and with adolescents. The relationship with antisocial behaviour is at present more limited, but growing. Two surveys of juveniles focused on sugar-containing soft drinks; one found that juveniles who consumed more than four glasses a day had the poorest mental health and conduct problems, and a significant correlation between sugar-containing soft drinks consumption and self-reported violence and carrying weapons was been reported in the other.
A limitation of these studies is that they are based on dietary estimates. Furthermore, it is increasingly accepted that disaffected young people have limited routine access to adequate nutrition and tend to make poor food choices hence their intake of essential micronutrients tends to be low compared with the government’s reference nutrient intakes (RNIs). The dietary recommendations are, however, set according to requirements of physical health, but correct levels of nutrients for optimal brain function have never been established and might be higher, or may require changes to the dietary composition.
We therefore tested what happened to the behaviour of violent young adult prisoners (18-21 years) when nutrients missing from their diets were reinstated. We used food supplements as an analogue of a better diet because it provided the possibility of a placebo control. On a random basis, where neither the volunteers, prison staff nor researchers in the prison knew who was getting which type, 231 volunteers were given either placebo or real capsules containing broadly the daily requirements of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. The number of proven offences committed by each prisoner was monitored before and while taking supplements. The result was that those who received the extra nutrients committed significantly (26.3%) (95%CI ± 18%) fewer offences compared with placebo (p = 0.03, two-tailed). Those consuming active supplements for at least 2 weeks committed 37% (p < 0.005) fewer of the most serious offences such as violence. If these studies are widely replicated - and they need to be - we may have a simple and humane means to help reduce and prevent a significant proportion of violence, antisocial behaviour and suffering.
Our study showed that simply ensuring prisoners consumed the UK government RNIs improved their behaviour significantly. An intriguing aspect of this is that the diets of the prisoner were typically better than those consumed by their disaffected counterparts in the community, but a significant effect was still observed. Conceivably, if this were rolled out to disadvantaged people consuming poor diets in the community at large, it might help to improve behaviour in society. Most of the social theories of antisocial behaviour are relatively weak predictors of behaviour. It is worth reflecting on how we have arrived at a situation where the criminal justice system largely ignores brain function when its role is to judge behaviour; we may describe crime as brainless, but we should not take that literally! Indeed, there is evidence that the judges themselves are also subject to such influences. It has been shown that the severity of their sentencing was strongly related to the length of time since their last refreshment break. Similarly, why do the medical sciences seem to regard nutrition as a part of ‘alternative and complementary medicine’, when evidently the alternative to nutrition is death, and where, for instance, it can be deemed that the tomato sauce on a slice of pizza can be counted as a ‘serving of vegetables’ for federally sponsored school lunches, following lobbying from food manufacturers. If we really are what we eat, then changing our diet will change us, and this extends to other areas such as intelligence and education. Doubtless, some would argue that providing education about the importance of diet is an unwelcomed extension of the ‘Nanny State’, and that freedom of choice is being eroded. However, if the research on diet and behaviour was widely replicated, it would suggest our food choice is already affecting our behaviour via our physiology. Therefore, in reality is it more a matter of how our choice is being affected, rather than if it is being affected. Good nutrition is essential irrespective of race, age, legislative boundaries, whether you are in prison, or in a rich or developing country. It is a basic need that unites us all; hence it is not where you eat that is important, but what you eat.
Reform Efforts and Future Directions
Recognizing the importance of adequate nutrition for prisoners' health and rehabilitation, some reform efforts have been undertaken:
Read also: What Do Russian Tortoises Eat?
- Increased Funding: Allocating more resources to improve the quality and quantity of food.
- Monitoring and Oversight: Strengthening monitoring mechanisms to prevent corruption and ensure compliance with nutritional standards.
- Dietary Education: Providing prisoners with education about healthy eating habits and the importance of nutrition for physical and mental well-being.
- Collaboration with NGOs: Partnering with non-governmental organizations to provide additional food and nutritional support.
tags: #russian #prison #diet #composition