“Mediazona” created a virtual simulator of a prison SHIZO

“Mediazon” publication created a virtual simulator of a prison penal isolation unit – the so-called SHIZO. In the 3-D model of the security camera, the user can inspect the walls, the prison bed, the bars on the windows, and the surveillance cameras. Also on the screen are details of what the conditions of detention in the SHIZO are like: constant checks, a radio constantly on with the belongings of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, scanty food and either insufficient or excessive heating. The simulator can be used from a computer or smartphone.

When designing a virtual SHIZO, Mediazona relied on the reports of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who is in the IK-6 high-security colony. At the moment, Navalny is in SHIZO for the 16th time. His lawyers claim that the politician is placed there again almost immediately after he leaves there in the usual conditions of detention. He and his defenders consider the reasons for Navalny’s placement in the SHIZO to be far-fetched: among them, an undone button on his shirt and the fact that Navalny “incorrectly introduced himself” to the colony employee.

Mediazona emphasizes that not only Navalny, but also many other prisoners, including political ones, are regularly sent to SHIZO in Russian prisons.

“Penal detention is the most severe punishment for a prisoner provided by law. Repeated confinement in detention is recognized as torture,” – write the creators of the simulator.