The policy of miracles: how to make money out of fear for convicted relatives
A new semi—legal service has appeared in Russia - "prisoner insurance". Law firms appealing to religion and human rights activities offer relatives of convicts to buy a subscription, allegedly guaranteeing the safety of their loved one in pre-trial detention and penal colonies. However, as Izvestia found out, the promises of "protection from torture and lawlessness" may hide earnings from someone else's grief, and the scheme itself has already attracted the interest of law enforcement agencies as potentially fraudulent.
A legal fiction
In the last few years, the service has been actively promoted on thematic sites and on social networks. The relatives of the convicts are invited to conclude a contract for "monthly insurance of prisoners." According to the contract, they promise protection from illegal actions of the administration, beatings from cellmates and medical support during the transfer.
One of the pioneers in this market was an organization called the Orthodox Center for Spiritual Assistance and Legal Protection. In the "services" section of the center's website, the offer is referred to as "the only effective way to help a prisoner." The insurance contract concluded on behalf of the prisoner provides for the issuance of the policy to the convict himself, and copies of it are sent to the head of the institution for filing in a personal file and to the Orthodox Center. In case of injury, this, allegedly, will allow for an independent forensic medical examination, and the insurer, by way of recourse, will be able to file material and moral claims directly to the head of the institution as an official who allowed illegal actions of subordinates.
The text separately emphasizes that contacting government agencies on your own is "more expensive for yourself," and there is allegedly chaos in correctional institutions: administration staff mock prisoners, considering humane treatment of criminals "beneath their dignity." The organization itself allegedly operates with the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Gennady Savenkov, a representative of the center, claims in an interview published on the website that in order to exercise human rights control over the safety of prisoners, they allegedly involve representatives of the clergy who have access to correctional institutions.
Izvestia sent a request to the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media of the Moscow Patriarchate, but received no response.
The Izvestia correspondent contacted the Orthodox Center for Spiritual Assistance and Legal Protection under the guise of a client, but they said that the service was no longer provided. However, advertising modules and contact numbers are still displayed on their Internet resources.
And online videos continue to be replicated intimidating "increased risks" in remote colonies. The main focus is on the high probability of dying from insufficient medical supervision.
In the public post "Insurance of convicts" in a popular messenger, a man posing as lawyer Alexei Tishin explains to potential clients the mechanism of the service. He claims that relatives of prisoners often come to him with complaints about problems in the colony — violation of rights, denial of treatment, ignoring appeals. Tishin further explains that if the applicant had already insured his relative, he would immediately "sit down and make a request" by sending a registered letter to the petition, for example, to the head of the medical unit. Without such insurance, according to him, the process takes time, as well as consent to the processing of personal data and a notarized power of attorney from the prisoner himself. "We need to take care of this in advance," the author of the video summarizes. From this monologue, a relative inevitably gets the impression that without buying a "policy" their loved one, who finds himself in a pre—trial detention center or colony, will not be able to fully exercise even his basic legal rights - for example, to receive medical care.
The FSIN's position
The legitimacy of such "insurance" is also questioned by the official response of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to the editorial's request.
The service recalled that in accordance with the law "On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation", control and supervision in the field of financial markets for non-credit financial organizations, which include insurance companies, is regulated by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. However, there are no such "services for prisoners" in the classical sense in the registers of the Central Bank. The ministry also noted that the damage caused to the person and property of a citizen is subject to full compensation by the person who caused the damage. In simple terms, in the event of an emergency or injury to a prisoner, if there is evidence, the damage to him from the administration will be compensated in any case, regardless of the availability of an insurance policy.
— Within the meaning of the above legal norms, the application of such a measure of civil liability as compensation for losses is possible if the combination of the following conditions is proven: the fact of causing losses, the occurrence of an insured event, the presence of a causal relationship between the illegal actions of an official and the adverse consequences that have occurred, the amount of losses, - stated in the response to the request of Izvestia".
According to the Civil Code, his employer (a legal entity) is fully responsible for any illegal actions of an employee of the colony, the FSIN press service stressed.
As for the priests who have the opportunity to communicate with prisoners, they do not deal with insurance and information issues for outside organizations, the press bureau said.
— Clergymen of the main traditional Russian religious associations visit institutions of the Russian penal system in order to participate in the work on the spiritual and moral education of suspects, accused and convicted persons and do not deal with insurance issues, as well as the transfer of information to outside organizations.
According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, in 2025, 1,623 clergy were assigned to penitentiary institutions.
"In addition, as part of the fulfillment of the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation to expand the presence of clergy in penitentiary institutions in the territorial bodies of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, 223 clergymen were appointed to the positions of assistant heads of pre—trial detention centers for work with believers; 70 clergymen were appointed to the positions of assistant heads of correctional institutions for work with believers," the response to the request says.
The FSIN press bureau questioned the legality of the "package of services" offered to prisoners' relatives as "insurance."
— The publication on the Orthodox Center for Spiritual Assistance and Legal Protection portal of information on the provision of insurance services for convicts may contribute to the promotion of a potentially fraudulent scheme. In 2019, the Department of Internal Affairs of the CAO GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow initiated a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for similar activities related to insurance of convicts.
The "divorce" of pure water
Lawyers and advocates familiar with the realities of the penal correction system (penal correction system) clearly call this service a fraudulent scheme.
"In my opinion, such proposals look like fraud," lawyer Pavel Korniako told Izvestia. According to him, in modern Russian pre-trial detention centers and penal colonies, hardly anything dangerous can happen to detainees.
The expert is particularly outraged by the pricing policy of pseudo-insurers. If an ordinary person insures life and health on the outside with an adequate coefficient, then for the relatives of the prisoner the cost is artificially inflated at times. According to an analysis by Izvestia, the monthly cost of "insurance" ranges from five to several tens of thousands of rubles.
As for lawyers and "lawyers" who sell such services under the guise of religious organizations, Korniak has a lot of questions for them.
— By definition, such people cannot be related to the legal profession, what they do directly contradicts the Code of Professional Ethics of a lawyer, — Korniako believes. — The participation of a person with the status of a lawyer in this kind of activity is a reason to initiate a disciplinary review by the council of the bar association.
— The market for such services for intimidated families continues to exist solely due to myths about prison lawlessness and ignorance of citizens, — says lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova. — "Agents" make super profits on the fear of relatives for the lives of their loved ones, often mothers have to give the last in the hope that no one will touch their sons in the colony.
At the same time, Krasnova stressed that the insurance of persons in places of forced detention against illegal actions by third parties, as well as in case of serious illnesses, such as tuberculosis, does not contradict the requirements of insurance legislation. This type of insurance is voluntary.
— It is worth remembering that insurance is a licensed type of activity, and additional requirements are imposed on such companies, for example, the insurer must have paid—in authorized capital (at least the minimum established by law), which is a significant amount, often several tens of millions of rubles.
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