Unlike other Russian colonies for lifelong prisoners, correctional colony No. 5 (IK-5) "Vologda Pyatak" did not appear on the site of old camps and fortresses. It is located on Ognenny Island in the middle of Novoe Lake in the Vologda region. In the early 20th century, the Kirillov-Novozersky Monastery, founded in 1517 by Kirill Bely, a nobleman who was born in 1481 in Galich and became a monk at the age of 15, was located on the island. Before settling on Ognenny Island, Kirill spent 20 long years wandering. According to Bely's account, the Mother of God showed him the island when he was in the Tikhvin Assumption Monastery. He had a vision: a fiery pillar from the sky pointed him to a piece of land in the middle of the water. This is how the island in Novoe Lake got its name - Ognyonny.
In the first half of the 16th century, two churches and cells for monks who joined Kirill Bely appeared there. A cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was also built on the island, with funding provided by the boyar Boris Morozov. The founder of the monastery died in 1532 (according to other sources - in 1537), and a century later, the relics of the monk, who was canonized, were laid in a coffin (ark) between the two churches. According to legends, the spirit of the elder Kirill saved the life of Ivan the Terrible. Supposedly, the saint appeared to the tsar in a dream and asked him not to attend a meeting with the boyars. Ivan the Terrible listened and in the room where the meeting was held, the ceiling collapsed, and people were killed. After that, the tsar made a generous donation to the Kirillo-Novozersky Monastery.
In 1906, a severe fire broke out on Ognenny Island, and many of the monastery buildings were damaged by fire. Restoration of the monastery took ten long years, and in 1916 it rose from the ashes. But soon the Great October Revolution broke out, and in 1919, members of the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR arrived at the monastery. The first thing they did was to open the coffin and inspect the relics of Saint Kirill, which were later described in the report as a "doll depicting a human." At first, the inspectors decided to move the remains to a simple wooden coffin and leave them in place.
But after 1928, when the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was finally liquidated, the relics of the saint disappeared without a trace. The communists confiscated all the property of the monks, burned the icons, and covered the frescoes with plaster. The monks were even stripped of their clothes and expelled from the monastery. The vacant buildings on the island began to be used as a place of exile for enemies of the people, including counter-revolutionaries and clergy. Many of them were tortured and killed by supervisors. And the Ognenny Island became known to the people as the "Solovki of Belozerye" - in analogy to the largest Soviet labor camp "Solovki" on the islands in the White Sea.
During Stalin's time, one of the Gulag zones was located on Ognenny: in 1938, the corrective labor colony No. 14 (ITK-14) appeared on the island, which was later transformed into ITK-6 after the Great Patriotic War. Novozero became mainly a place of exile for those who were suspected of having ties with the Germans, including Soviet soldiers who had survived fascist captivity. The zone was briefly called the camp section No. 17 (LO-17). Three years after Stalin's death, in 1956, LO-17 became a colony again: it housed bandits and murderers.
And in 1962, the zone on Ognenny Island was called the corrective labor colony No. 5 (ITK), after which its unofficial name "Vologda Pyatak" (Pyatak stands for 5 kopeck coin) was established. Until the end of the 1970s, there were almost no thieves in law (criminal elite) there, and therefore the colony was considered one of the most disciplined in the USSR. But then authorities began to appear on Novozero. One of the first was the thief in law Ivan Yezhov, known in criminal circles as Yezh or Vanka Stalingradsky. Valeryan Kuchuloria (Piso) and Gennady Mikhailov (Soleny) also served on Ognenny. The thief in law Soleny spent about 20 years on the island. In 2014, the authority, who was suffering from cancer, was transferred from the "Vologda Pyatak" to the prison hospital, where he died.
Meanwhile, in 1994, the zone on Novozero became the first place in Russia for life imprisonment. At that time, life imprisonment as a separate punishment was not provided for in the Russian Criminal Code: it was imposed as an act of clemency for those who were sentenced to death. By the arrival of the first life prisoners on the territory of ITK-5, the buildings were repaired, fire safety systems were installed, a canteen for prison guards was built, and the bridge to the neighboring island of Sladkiy (Sweet Island) was restored.
In the spring of 1994, the first 17 "pyzhi" (lifers, as they are called in prison slang) arrived at "Vologda Pyatak" from Tambov. A year later, the only suicide in the history of IK-5 occurred: a young inmate took his own life and left a message saying, "This is my choice. Please don't blame anyone for anything." There have been no more such cases in "Vologda Pyatak" since then. Since 1996, life imprisonment has appeared in the Russian Criminal Code as a separate punishment. Since then, the number of prisoners in "Vologda Pyatak" has gradually increased. Serial killers, cannibals, pedophiles, and maniacs are among those who today spend their lives on the island of Ognenny.
One of the most famous prisoners of "Vologda Pyatak" is Alexander Bychkov from Perm, who is only 31 years old. He is a killer and cannibal known as the Predator, who has the blood of nine people on his hands, mostly homeless and alcoholics. Bychkov had a special dislike for the latter as his mother abused alcohol and often showed aggression towards him. Bychkov committed his first murder in 2009 when he killed a 60-year-old pensioner whom he had invited to spend the night. The Predator dismembered the victim's body and buried it behind the house.
The maniac dealt with his other victims in a similar way: Bychkov lured them to a deserted place, gave them alcohol, and then killed them with a knife or a hammer. In some cases, he cut out and ate their organs, such as the heart and liver. The killer was caught after he once robbed a store. During the search, Bychkov's diary was found, in which he described all his crimes, and it became the main evidence in the investigation.
Bychkov's neighbor in "Vologda Pyatak" was Boris Koscheev, a maniac from Perm. In less than a month, from June 13 to July 10, 2013, he killed five Perm residents. Koscheev's first victim was his accomplice, from whose house the maniac took all the valuable property. After that, he raped and killed four women, but the fifth victim managed to escape. She described Koscheev in detail to the police, and he was arrested.
Another prisoner of the island of Ognenny is serial killer Artem Anufriev. He, together with his accomplice Nikita Lytkin, were dubbed "Academic Maniacs" and "Irkutsk Hammerers" in Irkutsk. From December 2010 to April 2011, they killed six people, including a 12-year-old boy. The killers murdered the boy for no reason at all. They attacked a pregnant woman and her six-year-old niece, but the girl managed to escape. The killers broke the woman's fingers and smashed her head, but a passing car interrupted the attack, and the victim survived.
Another victim of the "Academic Maniacs" was a resident of Irkutsk who was returning home from a party late at night - but luck did not help him. The killers literally beheaded him. In court, Anufriev tried to avoid severe punishment and accused his accomplice Lytkin of inciting the murders, but he was still found to be the main culprit. Anufriev was sentenced to life in prison, which he is still serving on Novozere.
Mikhail Bukharov is considered a local celebrity in the "Vologda Pyatak" - he is the leader of the music group "Ostrov," which includes several other life-term prisoners. Bukharov showed his musical abilities while still free, playing in an orchestra, but his creative career did not take off. He became a recidivist with a long record and traveled through prisons since he was 15 years old. After his release in the early 90s, Bukharov decided to get his life together and even planned to get married, but he beat his fiancée's father and went on the run. During the time he was on the run, he killed several people, which led him to the island of Ognenny. Bukharov has been there for several years now and writes songs all the time, which would be enough for several albums.
Not only maniacs spend their lives on the island of Ognenny. Members of the Orekhovskaya Organized Crime Group (OCG) - one of the most terrifying gangs of the lawless 90s - were sent there on permanent exile. One of the group's leaders, Oleg Pylev, as well as killers Oleg Mikhailov and Sergei Makhalin, are serving their sentences in the "Vologda Pyatak." These three men are responsible for 54 murders, and Pylev was also found guilty of extortion and kidnapping. Interestingly, a life sentence did not prevent killer Mikhailov from starting his personal life. In 2018, he married in prison: his chosen one was a former police officer.
Today the "Vologda Pyatak" colony is completely cut off from the mainland - there is no direct communication with it from Ognenny Island. However, there is such communication from the neighboring Sweet Island, which owes its name to a monastic skete that traded there even in tsarist times. The main residents of Sweet Island are employees of IK-5. Recently, part of the local population attempted to organize a kind of referendum on the liquidation of the zone and the restoration of the monastery. However, the initiative failed: for many in Novozerie, "Vologda Pyatak" is the only place to earn a living.
Today, there are between 180 and 190 prisoners in the four IK-5 buildings designed for 200 people, sentenced to life imprisonment or long-term imprisonment under a strict regime, according to various sources. About 60 of them are allowed to work. The prisoners work in two shifts: from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm or from 3:15 pm to 11:30 pm. They sew construction and insulated gloves, overalls, pillows, mattresses, pillowcases, decorative pilot hats, bath hats-budenovkas, construction robes, and even work clothes for various organizations. For example, once the convicts made 2.5 thousand suits for cash collectors.
For diligent work in such production, one can earn up to 20 thousand rubles per month. Some prisoners save them for their relatives, while others make purchases: for this purpose, they are given a special catalog, which can be used to order not only food but also other goods, such as magazines and newspapers. Only orders for cigarettes and alcohol are prohibited. Cash payments are also prohibited: the cost of orders from the catalog is deducted from the convicts' personal accounts.
There is a special economic squad of 38 convicts in IK-5, sentenced to long-term imprisonment on a strict regime. They are responsible for cleaning, cooking, and landscaping the "Vologda Pyatak." Such prisoners live in rooms of four people and are entitled to an annual vacation within the walls of the colony, during which they are even allowed to play video games. Prisoners join the squad by their own choice, but the path to it is reserved for those sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the IK-5 prison, inmates mostly inhabit cells with 2-3 people, but there are also solitary confinement cells. Solitude is typically reserved for those prisoners whose crimes could make them a target for other inmates, such as pedophiles. Greedy convicts who receive generous packages and don't want to share with their cellmates also seek solitude. However, most inmates in the "Vologda pentagon" don't mind having a cellmate.
Some cells in IK-5 are truly enormous, with an area of up to 40 square meters, even though the norm is four square meters per person. This is because the cells were formerly monastic cells that were converted and reinforced with bars.
After major renovations in 2011, the "Vologda pentagon" cells were equipped with cold water and finally had proper toilets instead of buckets. Moreover, in the new building of IK-5, which can accommodate 45 inmates, the toilets are located in separate rooms. They are equipped with motion sensors, so when an inmate enters, the light turns on. However, the area is still heated with wood and coal.
Once a year, each inmate sentenced to life in the "Vologda pentagon" is allowed a three-day long-term visit, which takes place in separate rooms. Such visits are always a great challenge for prison staff, as monitoring cameras are only installed in the dining rooms. There are no cameras in the bedrooms, and there is no guarantee that an inmate will not attempt to harm one of their loved ones. Nonetheless, some relatives of inmates sometimes come to the prison gates and beg to be let in, even though the visitation time has not yet arrived. Mothers are especially prone to this behavior. Even though their pleas and tears may move the prison staff, they cannot allow visitors outside of visiting hours according to the law.
Among all the Russian colonies for lifelong prisoners, the "Vologda Pyatak" can perhaps be called one of the most liberal. Prisoners are not allowed outside of their cells with their hands tied behind their backs - the guards consider it sufficient to have them handcuffed. Even in the old building of the prison, there is no video surveillance. Despite this, there has been no recorded attempt to escape from IK-5 since 1994, and the zone itself has been nicknamed the Russian "Alcatraz" - after the famous maximum-security prison in San Francisco Bay.
However, there was a story when several lifelong prisoners from the Fire Island were sent to Vologda for tuberculosis treatment. The prisoners wasted no time and made makeshift weapons, but the homemade weapons were discovered during a routine search, and that was the end of it. Another desperate prisoner attempted to escape from the "Vologda Pyatak" in 1992 when the zone had a regular regime, not a special one.
The fugitive managed to sneak into a garbage truck, where in addition to waste, there was also the contents of a public toilet. However, the prisoner was quickly caught, and the bridge to Sweet Island, which has a connection to the mainland, was closed. The fugitive had no choice but to surrender because he wouldn't have had the strength to swim away from Fire Island. However, according to other sources, the zone's management knew about his desire to escape and decided not to interfere to prove to the prisoners of the "Vologda five-kopeck piece" that it was impossible to escape from there.
On the other hand, the prison officials decided to use this incident as a lesson for all prisoners in IK-15 and increased their supervision. To this day, before leaving the territory of the "Vologda Pyatak," sewage trucks are scanned using special equipment that can detect the beating of a human heart. And the contents of garbage trucks are checked with a special metal rod just in case.
"All convicts of the 'Vologda Pyatak' have something that gives them hope. This is the story of one of the life-term convicts of the IK-15 - a former soldier who, in the early 90s, killed an officer and deserted from the unit. The inmate managed to have his case reviewed and proved that he had been repeatedly subjected to harassment by the murdered officer. As a result, his life sentence was replaced by 15 years of imprisonment, and he left the prison alive.
This is the outcome that the absolute majority of those locked up on the Ognenny Island want. Theoretically, 25 years after the start of the life sentence, each convict has the right to request parole. With prisoners who have served more than a quarter of a century, a psychologist even works additionally and conducts courses in social adaptation. In 2015, pedophile Sergey Kopyrnev from the city of Staritsa, Tver region, tried to get parole. In 1989, he raped and brutally killed an 11-year-old boy - the child's body had over 30 knife wounds. Kopyrnev was initially sentenced to death, but later his sentence was replaced with life imprisonment. After serving 25 years, the maniac decided to take advantage of the chance for parole. However, in his hometown of Staritsa, this caused a violent protest: almost the entire adult population of the city signed a petition against the release of the pedophile.
During the court hearings, Kopyrnev, via video link, tried to convince the judge that he had reformed and realized everything. The mother of the child he killed (also via video link) categorically opposed the release of the pedophile (he had been bombarding her with remorseful letters for years). The prosecutor and a colony employee who were in the courtroom also spoke out against the convict's parole. As a result, the judge denied parole to the convict. However, these hearings may be just the first in a series: today, many life-sentenced convicts of the 'Vologda Pyatak,' who were convicted in the early 90s, are beginning to reach the 25-year mark of their sentences.
Those who are imprisoned on Fire Island often turn to faith. For this purpose, a prayer room is equipped in the building, where icons painted by inmates hang on the walls. Muslims in IK-15 are allowed to perform prayer. However, according to some reports, there are inmates who only pretend to be believers and write tearful letters to religious organizations for financial assistance of 5-100 thousand rubles. The logic is simple - according to the law, such donations cannot be deducted from compensation for the victims. And the conscience of these fraudsters in robes can only be appealed by the faces of the saints from old monasteries..."
