Black Dolphin Prison

In 1773, the Iletsky prison was opened in the Iletskaya Zashchita fortress – a special prison for the development of local salt mines (Iletsky salt mines) and a transit prison for the transfer of criminals. In 1893, a correctional prison department was founded on the premises of the Iletsk penal prison. After the victory of the Bolsheviks, the institution was renamed the Iletsk concentration camp. In 1942, Sol-Iletsk Prison was used to hold defendants, and then the facility became a haven for prisoners with open tuberculosis. The prison received its current status as a special regime penal colony as a result of the introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty in 1996. The colony received its informal name from a fountain with a black dolphin sculpture located at the entrance. According to one theory, the sculpture was created by Russian serial killer Vladimir Kristopa. "Black Dolphin" (official name: Correctional Colony No. 6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg Region) is a special regime colony for those sentenced to life imprisonment in the city of Sol-Iletsk near Lake Razval.

Conditions of detention The colony maintains strict isolation from contact between inmates. Cells are occupied by two to four inmates, but some inmates are held in solitary confinement. Prisoners are under constant video surveillance and sleep with the lights on. A characteristic feature is that when moving to another building, prisoners are blindfolded to disorient them, so that they cannot remember the layout of the colony. Each cell for life-sentenced prisoners has a television. Watching it is allowed for no more than four hours a day, at strictly designated times. The administration selects the programming. When sleeping or sleeping, it is forbidden to cover your head with a blanket - this is a violation of the rules of conduct in prison.

6:00 – wake up, make beds, wash, clean cells. 6:30 - breakfast, turn on the radio. 7:15 - electrical outlets are turned on; prisoners can use electric razors and boil water. 8:00 - start of morning check, turn off the radio. 9:00 - examination of prisoners by a doctor. 10:00 AM – Morning walk in a special cell several meters long. At this time, patients are taken to the medical unit. 11:00-13:00 - work. 13:00 – lunch. 13:40 – cleaning of the cells. 14:00-17:00 - the radio turns on again. 18:00 – dinner (40 minutes). 20:00 – evening check. 20:30 - newspapers and radio are again available to prisoners. 22:00 - lights out.

For 16 hours after waking up, prisoners are prohibited from lying or sitting on their bunks.

Abakumov, Alexander Evgenievich. Killed four people in Tatarstan. Zaur Guseynovich Akavov. Organized 13 terrorist attacks in Dagestan, killing over 100 people. Sergei Vladimirovich Babkov, member of the Tagiryanovsky gang, involved in the kidnapping and murder of 23 people (in the Naberezhnye Chelny district). Bakin, Konstantin Anatolchevich. Member of the Zhukunov-Bakin gang, killed five people and raped two women. Valitov Galim Vakilievich. Killed 7 people. Sergei Vyacheslavovich Vinogradov. Killed three people, including two young children, and raped a young girl.

In total, there are approximately/more than 900 lifers in Black Dolphin prison as of 2025.