It became known how Mikhail Efremov could celebrate his anniversary in the colony

Few people dream of celebrating a birthday behind bars (but believe it or not, there are some of them too – they even rent rooms stylized as a cell). Popular actor Mikhail Efremov is definitely not one of them. Meanwhile, on November 10, he will celebrate his 60th birthday in the Belgorod colony, where he is serving a sentence for a drunken accident with a fatal outcome. However, “celebrate” is not a very appropriate word here.

Barbed wire around the perimeter instead of balloons, black prison uniform instead of a tuxedo, guards instead of guests, chifir instead of champagne… But in any place, even the most terrible one, there is room for a miracle. In the case of Efremov, these are relatives who, according to some sources, will come to him for a long meeting. And if so, then the celebration will take place.

How birthdays and anniversaries are generally celebrated in Russian colonies – in the material of the MK observer.

“Can he not go to work?”, “Will he be given an extra date on the occasion of his anniversary?”, “Maybe he will be allowed to go home on this day?” – fans of actor Efremov ask these questions.

I’ll explain. In the Internal Regulations of correctional institutions there is not a word about birthdays or any personal holidays in general. That is, the person convicted on this day, alas, does not have any privileges – no shortened working day, no additional visit, extra lunch, etc.

But! There is no prohibition in the regulations on accepting congratulations and treating “guests” with permitted products. Short-term leave outside a correctional institution is, in principle, possible for any convict who is in good standing in the colony. And some people actually ask to be allowed to go home on their birthday (their own or their loved ones’). This happens, but it is extremely rare. There is a much greater chance of going home not for a holiday, but because of a misfortune – for example, to see sick parents or children. But here, too, I’ll make a reservation: in some regions, during the whole year, only 1-2 cases were recorded when a convicted person was released on vacation.

How can you celebrate an anniversary in the Belgorod colony (Alekseevka village), where Efremov is located?

– How did it usually happen? – recalls a former inmate of IK-4. – In the morning, we congratulated several convicts (with whom you communicate most), the head of the detachment and, if you were lucky, the head of the colony. They said the words, wished them goodness and freedom. All. After work, the birthday boy will have tea with his friends. There is no such thing as candles, champagne, etc. It is forbidden. But you can have a cake.

“Where does the cake come from in prison?” – you ask.

Firstly, it can be purchased through an online store. Efremov has a very limited choice. On the website you can only order a waffle cake for a convicted person. But, let’s say, 8 types of cakes are delivered to a colony in the Moscow region, including “Napoleon”, “Prague”, “Kyiv”, “Ministerial”. Secondly, the cake can be bought at the prison stall (if available). Thirdly, you can make it yourself by buying condensed milk, cookies, nuts, raisins and other ingredients. When I was in the colony in Alekseevka (while football players Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev were serving their sentences there), the local stall did not have cake, but all these products were present, as well as pies, grilled chicken, cheese, sausage and various canned goods. The convicts bought it not only for the holidays, but also, as they say, whenever possible.

Now about the gifts. Not everything is simple with them either. According to the rules, convicts are prohibited from transferring any personal belongings to each other. But if we are talking about a book, drawing, or craft, then there are usually no problems.

In general, most of the former convicts whom I interviewed said that on their birthday they thought about one thing: that it would pass as quickly as possible. But there were also those who talked about small pleasant moments: for example, the prisoners wrote poetry to one of my interlocutors as a gift, and painted a picture to another. One of the inmates (a well-known entrepreneur) recalled how touchingly a fellow sufferer presented him with warm socks, saying that his sister had specially knitted them for this day.

It’s worth telling in more detail about some of the inmates (former and current), whose names are especially well-known. On his birthday, ex-governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh usually spends all his free time reading greeting cards, letters and telegrams. “And on the same day he answers everyone in writing,” says brother Alexander.

Ex-Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Zakharchenko stopped celebrating birthdays behind bars. And although he is an incorrigible optimist, he still believes: everything has its time and place. Prison, in his opinion, is not conducive to joy.

Former Minister of Economy Alexey Ulyukaev found two entries in his diaries made on his birthday.

“March 23, 2018. Birthday in prison – interesting experience. I wonder if anyone will congratulate me, except, of course, my relatives. And they already congratulated me in letters and on a date. And also lawyers. A neighbor made a homemade calendar and marked March 23 on it.”

“I still keep this calendar paper,” Ulyukaev comments. – But on that birthday I was in jail. But already in the colony I made the following entry:

“March 23, 2019. The deputy director of the FSIN said on the radio that the prisoners gave me crafts for my birthday, the administration gave me a long meeting with my wife, a birthday cake and congratulated me. Just like the joke: not a thousand pounds, but ten shillings, not at the races, but at cards; I didn’t win, but lost. And so everything is true. The prisoners were congratulated, although without any handicrafts. The administration apparently ate the cake itself; no one said half a word of congratulations. There was a long date, as scheduled, three months later, and not with my wife, but with my mother.”

“On other birthdays, I was lucky twice: my loved ones came to see me,” continues Ulyukaev. – The message that they allegedly gave me curtains was nonsense. In general, they wrote so much about my birthday in the colony! But in reality there was nothing special. Several prisoners (5-10 people) came up and said words. I didn’t treat anyone to anything. And in general I tried not to remember that it was my birthday.

Ulyukaev, by the way, wrote poems about his birthday:

And again the ball turned around

around one of many stars.

Are you still alive? Pulse check,

Red blood cells, weight and height –

Everything is as it should be for mortals.

The smoking room is still alive.

Bye for opening the envelope

the notary is not called, and the world

The obituary hasn’t worked out yet,

Let the ball burst from its orbits,

And birthdays –​ just numbers

Common, like prostatitis…

…The more terrible the colony, the less often the convicts remember their birthdays and holidays in general. And it was especially not time for the holidays for everyone in Vladimir prisons.

“Nobody celebrated birthdays in any way during the period when I was there,” says public figure, nationalist Dmitry Demushkin, who served his sentence in IK-2 in the city of Pokrov. – There were no holidays at all, and we didn’t think about them against the backdrop of everything else. However, on New Year’s Day we were allowed to go to bed later (but got up an hour earlier). I had two birthdays while I was in prison – 38 and 39 years old. I didn’t even tell anyone about them. And no one told me about their birthday. Was not considered significant. In the colony, even simple communication was prohibited. It was only when I was walking that I was able to talk to someone, but I didn’t have walks every day.