Colony 100, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Colony 100 – Ukraine’s prison for hardened criminals. Serial killers, child abusers, repeat offenders. All those behind the walls of this Soviet-built prison have already done time in at least three other Ukrainian jails – and learned nothing from that experience. Or they have committed crimes so heinous that they will never again leave their 100-square-foot-cell in the maximum-security wing. The prison is marked by an omnipresent hopelessness that seems to go hand in hand with its architectural dreariness. Alexander knows the procedure by heart. Speak only when spoken to. Hands crossed behind your back. Stop at every white line. And for God’s sake, always look down. Today he’s getting locked up for the fourth time. This time he committed armed assault. He’s been to jail before for drugs, theft, and stabbing. But this time, he hasn’t been sent to some town jail. No, he’s in Colony 100. THE prison for repeat offenders. And Alexander knows that if he hopes to be released again, he must adapt from day one. And not call attention to himself. Either from the guards, or from the other 300 inmates... Rusha doesn’t ponder such things. He murdered 29 people, and he’ll probably never see the world outside the maximum-security wing again. Instead, each day he tries to find something to occupy himself in his isolated and dismal world. Waiting for an upcoming meeting with a psychologist distract him from reality. Other than his cellmate and the guards, no one has spoken to him in years.