Brighten a Moscow inmate's day with the click of a mouse
January 17th, 2011
11:21 PM ET

Brighten a Moscow inmate's day with the click of a mouse

Giving gifts of imported cheeses, smoked meats and chocolates to inmates in Moscow probably has never been easier.

Relatives of inmates at Moscow's detention centers can use a new online shop to pay for gifts to be delivered to their cells, official Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported Sunday.

The gifts include fruit, vegetables, electric heaters, 21 brands of cigarettes, and "nine brands of cheese - from the cheap Druzhba processed cheese to imported cheeses," the report said.

People can also send books, including the Bible, the Koran, and, helpfully, the Russian Criminal Code. Domino and chess sets also are for sale. Alcohol, however, is not offered.

"The delivery is made directly to a prison cell within three days," Viktor Dezhurov, head of the city's Federal Prisons Service department, told Itar-Tass. "The online shop gets about 180 orders per day."

The shop presumably would be especially helpful for families of non-Muscovite detainees. Two-thirds of Moscow's inmates are from outside Moscow and its suburbs, the news agency reported.

For now, the store is for people held in Moscow's pretrial detention centers, though the service will eventually be extended to all of the city's prisons, Reuters reported.

One facility, the Butyrskaya Prison in Moscow, will soon open a tanning center for its inmates, Dezhurov told Itar-Tass.

"The warden decided that inmates did not have enough sunlight in their cells," Dezhurov said. "The tanning will cost 10 rubles per minute."

 Post by:
Filed under: Crime • Russia
soundoff (8 Responses)
  1. RUFFNUTT

    sounds like theuy have it made over there..

    January 17, 2011 at 11:36 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Drizzyf

    i dont believe these people deserve this. they are criminals who deserve to serve their time without these commodities. I wonder how the families of murder victims feel about these inmates getting these types of things shipped to them, i agree with RUFFNUTT, it sounds like they have it made over there, when the dont deserve to. but thats just my opinion.

    January 17, 2011 at 11:43 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Chicago

    Finally safe way to abrade stretch marks at home http://www.medicalcrystals.com

    January 18, 2011 at 1:15 am | Report abuse |
  4. #7326 county

    yeah but they still get their poozles packed.

    January 18, 2011 at 1:24 am | Report abuse |
  5. stalin

    beats the hell out of the way russian u.s.s.r. political prisons used to be under the blue caps "KGB" -those places – you would only leave two ways if you were lucky -DEAD OR INSANE – :} -the history of the "blue caps is funny – first they had a cap -they brutalised society as secret police – they would cause heart attacks and car wrecks just walking down the road – it got so bad they had to take the blue cap and minimise it on the uniform so it was a green hat with a big blue band -then a smaller then a smaller then smaller band then finally it was a verythin almost non existandt blue thred – so kgb looked like regular military people -so the cruelest part is you had no idea YOU WERE INTROUBLE TILL ONE WALKED RIGHT UP TO YOU AND YOU SEEN THE FAINT BLUENESS ON THE BAND OF THERE HAT – THEN YOU WERE SCREWED --I LOVE THE HISTORY OF THE KGB -THERE TECHNICALLY IS NONE -MOVE ALONG CITIZEN /COMRADE -NOTHING HERE TO SEE -MOVE ALONG :}

    January 18, 2011 at 3:00 am | Report abuse |
  6. stalin

    IF YA REALLY WANT TO FREAK OUT – STUDY THE – RUSULLKA FILES :}

    January 18, 2011 at 3:02 am | Report abuse |
  7. Scotty

    This is eerie, when I got up this morning the first thing that came to mind was "how can I brighten a moscow inmates day today". CNN you are amazing !

    January 18, 2011 at 8:26 am | Report abuse |
  8. Stealthreconn

    Well, it says: "For now, the store is for people held in Moscow's pretrial detention centers, though the service will eventually be extended to all of the city's prisons, Reuters reported." DRIZZYF. So, while many may very well be guilty–there are many religiously persecuted individuals who are in Pre-Trial status. Ironically, these had their Bibles confescated!
    And this assumes that these items will actually get to those persons you select. Human Rights site Forum18.org gives some examples here: http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=25&country=10&results=50
    Other religious persecution can be searched directly on their site for many Christian religions.

    January 18, 2011 at 8:45 am | Report abuse |
« Back to main