Russia to build seven large prison complexes by 2035

Russia plans to construct seven large-scale prison complexes, referred to by journalists as ‘super-prisons,’ by 2035. These facilities will combine pretrial detention centers and penal colonies, with a total capacity to hold over 20,000 individuals, including 5,380 in pretrial detention and 15,120 convicts.

The planned locations include the Kaluga, Astrakhan, and Tyumen regions, as well as Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, and the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine. The first facility is expected to open in Tatarstan by 2030. Each complex will feature integrated courtrooms, prosecutor offices, and defense attorney spaces, utilizing advanced surveillance and security technologies.

The total program cost is estimated to exceed 230 billion rubles (approximately 2.4 billion euros), with individual complexes costing between 13 and 20 billion rubles. The Russian Ministry of Justice stated that consolidating detention and sentencing functions will reduce inmate maintenance costs by 25% to 30% through reduced transport needs and lower staffing requirements.

This expansion follows a significant decline in the Russian prison population. While there were 465,000 inmates at the end of 2021, the number is projected to drop to 282,000 by 2026, a decrease of nearly 40%, partly due to prisoner recruitment for the war in Ukraine.