Transfers Taxed behind Bars

The independent Russian outlet Takie Dela reported that new regulations, which took effect in autumn 2025, permit the state to deduct a large share of funds sent by family members to cover prisoners’ upkeep costs, including food, utilities, and clothing.

Previously, those expenses were generally covered by prisoners’ wages or pensions, while money transfers from relatives were treated as personal funds that inmates could spend at their discretion. Many used the money to buy additional food, to supplement the limited prison diet.

Under the new rules, prisoners may be able to retain as little as 25% of the money transferred to them. Exceptions apply to pregnant women, minors under 18, and people with disabilities, who must be allowed to keep at least 50% of incoming funds.

One of the first public accounts of the policy came from Alexandra Popova, the wife of poet Artem Kamardin, who is serving a sentence in Correctional Colony No. 4 in Russia’s Vladimir Oblast after publicly reading antiwar poetry. In late December 2025, Popova said prison officials informed her they intended to deduct up to 75% from the money she sends her husband.

Popova said prices inside the colony’s shop have risen significantly in recent months. "We don’t yet understand what to do. Naturally, the amount I send him is not enough," she wrote.

In early February, supporters of 68-year-old Alexander Skobov reported similar deductions. Skobov, who openly opposed Russia’s War on Ukraine, is serving a 16-year sentence in Prison No. 2 in the city of Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast.

Friends of another inmate, Alexander Martynov, sentenced to six years in prison for anti-war graffiti, also said a portion of the money transfers had been withheld.

Human rights advocates warn that the policy could deprive prisoners of essential medicine, medical supplies, and adequate nutrition.

"Inside the system, there is often a shortage of basic medications," said Olga Romanova, a prisoners’ rights advocate. "Money transfers from outside are a way to buy what prisons don’t provide or provide irregularly. Proteins and vitamins are often obtained through the prison shop or packages from relatives."

"If the money is gone, the risk of deficiency conditions increases," she said.

Health concerns have already been reported by Elena Sokolova, a friend of Lyudmila Razumova, imprisoned over anti-war graffiti. According to Sokolova, Razumova is not allowed to receive vitamins or dietary supplements and must buy foods rich in essential nutrients herself. Her health has worsened recently, the friend said.

"I’m covered in flour again," Razumova wrote in a letter to relatives, referring to a skin condition she said she had read about in Varlam Shalamov's Kolyma Tales, a compendium of stories about camp life from the Soviet era that is both a literary classic and a rich documentary.

"He writes that it starts in the legs, like mine, and then spreads everywhere, and people called them ‘snowmen’ and avoided them like lepers," she wrote.

Alexei Matveyev, coordinator of the charity foundation Vo Imya Svyatogo Doktora Feodora Gaaza (In the Name of St. Doctor Fyodor Gaaz), said the amendments contradict the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "The current conditions of detention in Russian prisons are very difficult to consider adequate, given the scale of deductions from prisoners’ income," he said.