Polar Owl

Federal prison in Russia

For the species of bird, see Snowy owl.

Polar Owl

Coordinates| 66°48′18″N 65°47′24″E﻿ / ﻿66.805°N 65.79°E﻿ / 66.805; 65.79
Status| Operational
Capacity| 1014
Population| 450
Opened| 1961
Managed by| Federal Penitentiary Service
Governor| Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Tsybulsky
City| Kharp
State/province| Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Country| Russia

Federal Governmental Institution — penal colony No. 18 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, commonly known as the Polar Owl (Russian: Полярная сова, Polyarnaya sova) is a Russian prison located on the bank of the Sob River near the Polar Urals in the Kharp urban-type settlement.[1] It is one of the seven supermax ("special regimen", in Russian terminology) corrective labor colonies operated by the Federal Penitentiary Service for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in Russia. In addition to special regimen it has sections with common and strict regimens.

## History

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Kharp was founded in 1961 during the construction of the Salekhard–Igarka Railway. The core of the new settlement was a camp for prisoners who worked on laying the railway. Subsequently, the camp was transformed into a prison for particularly dangerous recidivists. The prison received the status of a colony for life convicts in 2004.

In 2010–2012, there were reports in the media that some employees of the colony were involved in a scandal with the falsification of confession. Some unscrupulous guards were suspected of beating testimonies from prisoners with the use of physical and psychological violence. Novaya Gazeta reported 190 fake turnouts[clarification needed], while Izvestia reported 32 fake turnouts.[2] According to Novaya Gazeta, the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug tried to hush up the case, since high-ranking officials could be involved in it.[3]

## Notable inmates

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The Polar Owl facility has held numerous serial killers. It has also been used to hold political opponents of President Vladimir Putin.[citation needed]

* Nikolai Ageyev (born 1974)
* Firuz Aituganov (born 1990)
* Alexander Elistratov (1954-2011) – made an unsuccessful escape attempt in 2011[4]
* Alexander Greba (born 1980)[citation needed]
* Yevgeny Kolesnikov (1984–2016) – killed himself at the colony[5]
* Nikolay Korolyov (born 1981)
* Nur-Pashi Kulayev (born 1980) - terrorist [citation needed]
* Alexander Lokhtachyov (born 1981)
* Sergey Osipenko (born 1970)[citation needed]
* Ivan Panchenko (born 1968)[citation needed]
* Alexander Pichushkin (born 1974)[6]
* Sergey Pomazun (born 1981)
* Oleg Ten (born 1975)
* Dmitry Voronenko (born 1971)[citation needed]
* Mikhail Yudin (born 1975)[citation needed]
* Abdufatto Zamanov (born 1973)[citation needed]
* Sergey Zastynchanu (born 1979)[citation needed]
* Alexander Zhizhich (born 1979) – one half of a killing team with his brother[citation needed]

## See also

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* IK-3 "Polar Wolf", another prison in Kharp

## References

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1. ^ "ФКУ ИК-18 УФСИН РОССИИ ПО ЯМАЛО-НЕНЕЦКОМУ АВТОНОМНОМУ ОКРУГУ" [PKU IK-18 Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District]. Official Site of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
2. ^ Andrey Gridasov, Gaydar Batyrkhanov (2015-06-04). "Defense lawyers of those convicted in the "Politkovskaya case" will remind the court of two killers". Izvestia. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
3. ^ Vera Chelisheva (2013-03-22). "The "Queen of Evidence" was used 190 times". Novaya Gazeta. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
4. ^ "Таксист-бомбила убивал преимущественно людей неславянской внешности" [The taxi driver bomber killed mostly people of non-Slavic appearance]. 5 June 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
5. ^ "Град обреченных: раскрыт главный мотив самых страшных преступников России" [City of the Doomed: The Main Motive of Russia’s Worst Criminals Revealed] (in Russian). Retrieved 27 December 2023.
6. ^ "Notorious 'chessboard killer' reveals murdering his 49 victims was 'like sex'". Daily Mirror. 19 June 2017.