2 Feb 2013

Is the Russia Prison System Working Pussy Riot Member to Death?

An incarcerated member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot has been hospitalized for illnesses related to prison work , reports the Associated Press . Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has reportedly been suffering severe headaches since last spring, when the 23-year-old began serving her two-year sentence on hooliganism charges.

Fellow band member Yekaterina Samutsevich, who was released on appeal in October, told the independent Russian news service Rain TV, "They don't allow [Tolokonnikova] to have any rest; she works nearly round the clock … She said she feels tired, extremely tired.”

Tolokonnikova’s conditions offer a window into Russia’s brutal modern prison system, which have been described as “ Gulag lite ,” referring to the notorious labor camps of the Soviet Union under Stalin.

More on Alternet