Russia’s Amazon for Prisoners Offers Online Shopping and E-Mail Behind Bars

Russian prisons have come a long way since Stalin forced inmates in the Gulag to dig canals and chop wood, but they don’t exactly feel modern. For each of the country’s 644,000-odd inmates, purchasing everyday items typically involves asking a relative to wait for hours in line at Soviet-style prison store, and letters can take several weeks to send back and forth.

To make interaction with the outside world a little easier, the Gulag’s successor, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), has begun working with companies that offer online services to prisoners. While inmates themselves aren't permitted to use the Internet, even under supervision, relatives or friends can send e-mails and order goods on their behalf. Guards scan handwritten letters from prisoners and use e-mail to send the replies.