“After surgery, you are sent to hard labor, and sick leave is denied because of your criminal charges”.
Former political prisoner Yuliya Laptanovich (who served her sentence in Homieĺ penal colony No. 4) shares her personal experience with prison medicine in the podcast “Critical Condition” (Krytyčny stan). Yuliya’s story is a testimony to how the medical system in penal colonies turns into an element of punishment. Refusal to issue medical documents, lack of necessary medications, ignoring chronic illnesses, and the rudeness of doctors.
How to survive when even pain relief has to be fought for, and doctors openly state that prisoners do not need to know their diagnoses?