How do prisoners live in Tajikistan’s prisons?

Prisons. Very little is known about them in Tajikistan. The authorities try not to disclose information about the situation inside these institutions. However, despite this, reliable information about what is happening there and the conditions in which prisoners are held is coming to light. 

The penitentiary system of Tajikistan is not just institutions where people serve sentences for crimes committed. It is also a place where the regime isolates its opponents and critics, and uses them for intimidation.
Currently, there are 18 correctional facilities in the country, including 8 correctional colonies of varying degrees of severity, one colony for women and minors, 3 settlement colonies, and 5 pre-trial detention centers.
According to official data, approximately 15,000 people are held in all correctional facilities and pre-trial detention centers. However, as human rights defenders claim, the number of prisons in the country is insufficient, and the authorities are building new ones. 

As seen from satellite images, the Vahdat colony is undergoing its third phase of expansion: over the past 15 years, the area of the prison and the size of the cells have tripled, making it the largest colony in the republic. Similar work is being carried out in the correctional colonies of Dushanbe and Bokhtar.
On the other hand, the construction of new prisons fits into the regime’s logic — its repressive machine is operating at full capacity, and people are subjected to persecution for the slightest criticism. Just think about it: from April 2018 to May 2025, the judicial authorities sentenced over 1,500 citizens of the country to various terms for “likes” and “comments” on social media. And throughout 2024, Tajik courts did not issue a SINGLE acquittal. 

UN experts who visited several colonies in Tajikistan in 2023 pointed to overcrowded cells, lack of sanitary conditions, and insufficient toilets and showers. Due to unsanitary conditions, low levels of medical assistance, and regular torture, the mortality rate among Tajik prisoners remains very high. 

However, the prison administrations in Tajikistan have turned all these problems to their advantage — access to normal conditions for prisoners has become a “commodity”. 

For example, in order for a person to be sent to serve their sentence in a prison closer to their family’s residence, negotiations are held in the GUIN with relatives, like at a market — they are asked for money. The price can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. If they do not pay, the prisoner will be sent to the most remote colony. 

In general, human rights defenders and former prisoners categorize the extortion in prisons into two categories: minor and major. 

Small fees are charged for everyday conveniences and services — for example, payment for the delivery of food, clothing, and medications. Otherwise, deliveries may not be accepted, citing certain registers of prohibited items, or only a small part of the delivery may reach the inmate.
Additionally, within the colony, guards allow phone calls for a fee — either from a regular phone or via video call from a smartphone.
Similarly, one can pay extra for accommodation in a more spacious cell, or for the opportunity to take a shower several times a week. In labor colonies, also for an additional fee, an inmate can be assigned to a brigade exempt from heavy labor. 

Large fees are systemic actions by officials of the GUIN and the administrations of the colonies.
Relatives are most often asked for money for a significant reduction in sentence or complete release during amnesties. Medical certificates are often forged to qualify the inmate for amnesty conditions. The cost of such services can vary from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the article. The scheme involves not only GUIN employees but also prosecutors and judges. 

Another way to earn large sums is by placing an inmate in a punishment isolation cell. The administration is well aware of the financial capabilities of families, judging by the “richness” of deliveries and unofficial payments. Such an inmate comes under close scrutiny from the guards, and at the slightest violation, a protocol is drawn up against him and he is sent to the SHIZO. There, he is tortured and forced to call relatives to pay for his release. The amounts vary from a few hundred to one and a half thousand dollars. 

There is also another option — “service for service.” The administration finds a wealthy inmate and openly offers, in exchange for leniency and protection, to make unofficial “contributions” to a certain fund to support the colony staff. Such inmates are also periodically tasked with improving conditions inside the prison — for example, building mosques, showers, toilets, landscaping the territory, and repairing cells.
For instance, in 2019, the leadership of the Vahdat colony asked the well-known businessman Zayd Saidov, who is serving a 29-year sentence, to build a new facility with toilets and showers. 

In labor colonies, the leadership consistently exploits inmates in production workshops. Through intermediaries, the administration accepts orders for the manufacture of metal and wooden products. Goods produced inside the colonies are also informally sold — from ordinary bricks and cement blocks to consumer goods. 

In other words, the colonies in Tajikistan bring significant income to the leadership of the GUIN and the administrations of the prisons. The government is well aware of this. Therefore, the head of the GUIN and his deputies are sometimes tasked with “spending” — for example, to repair a road in a certain area, as happened in May 2025, when the head of the GUIN Mansur Umarov financed the reconstruction of an inter-district road in his native Farhar district.