The Condemned

Nick Read's BBC documentary offers a haunting tour of Russian Federal Penal Colony 56, a maximum-security prison located at Lovza, deep in an immense forest in the Urals—a seven-hour drive from the nearest city. More than 250 prisoners—all convicted of murder—are housed here, with those deemed the worst offenders kept in spartan cells 23 hours a day, where they are forbidden to lie on their cots during daylight (they pace back and forth, watched by surveillance cameras). Others live in small groups and are allowed to go to the mess hall, the baths, and the church. In interviews, some of the inmates speak candidly about their horrific crimes—one was a hit-man, while another killed a number of people in a drunken stupor—and most agree that their punishment is well deserved. But the lengthy terms of imprisonment in such an isolated environment also lead to hopelessness; when all executions were ended in 1996, a rash of suicides followed. Read also captures rare visits by family members (one prisoner greets his wife and the son he barely knows, another sees his tearful mother) and records a man talking about the woman he's been allowed to see occasionally over the years, and their two children. The warden and guards also reflect on their situation, some noting that they have been at the facility longer than many of the incarcerated. Genuinely eerie and compelling, The Condemned serves up a powerful portrait of a hellish place and its doomed inhabitants. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)