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Russia · Orenburg Oblast · Sol-Iletsk

Black Dolphin Prison (IK-6)

Federal penal colonySupermaxmaleOvercrowded (100%)ModerateMedium
Verified 28 May 2026 · Data dated 1 Dec 2023
Fresh · 1mo ago

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

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Photograph of Black Dolphin Prison (IK-6)

Russia's flagship special-regime colony for life-sentenced prisoners. Operates the strictest known regime in the Russian system.

Background

Federal Governmental Institution - Penal Colony No. 6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in Orenburg Oblast, commonly known as the Black Dolphin Prison (Russian: Чёрный дельфин, romanized: Chyorny delʹfin) and formerly known as NKVD Prison No. 2 is a prison in Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg Oblast, Russia, near its border with Kazakhstan. It is one of the oldest prisons in Russia, and one of the first in the Orenburg Oblast to accept prisoners with life sentences. It gets its unofficial name from a prisoner-constructed sculpture depicting a black dolphin, which is set in front of the main entrance.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

700

Current population

700

Occupancy

100%

Year opened

1999

Operational

Facility profile

Operator

Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN)

Population held

male

Opened

1999

Region

Orenburg Oblast

Security level

Supermax

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

Inmates spend 22+ hours per day in two-person cells. Movement is escorted with blindfolds and stress positions.

Visiting

Short visits (up to 4 hours) twice per year; long visits (up to 3 days) twice per year. Often denied in practice.

Mailing

Mail screened by the colony censor; outgoing letters limited per month. Russian FSIN format with colony number required.

Practical info

Family parcels permitted to limits set by regime tier; pre-approval often required.

Known issues

Reports of psychological isolation regime. Memorial and OVD-Info have documented restricted access for monitors.

Notable inmates

  • Oleg Kostarev
    1986
  • Vladimir Nikolaïev
    1959 · serial killer

    Vladimir Nikolayevich Nikolayev Alho (Russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Никола́ев Алхо) (born March 16, 1959) is a Russian murderer from Novocheboksarsk. Nikolayev is best known for the cannibalism of his victims, and of distributing and selling their flesh to others in disguise of exotic animal meat.

  • Valery Skoptsov
    1951–2004 · serial killer
  • Mikhail Popkov
    1964 · militsiya
  • Zelimkhan
    Zelimkhan
    1872–1913 · Abrek
  • Yevgeny Nagorny
    1972 · serial killer

    Yevgeny Olegovich Nagorny (Russian: Евге́ний Оле́гович Наго́рный; born 26 June 1972) is a Ukrainian-born serial killer, who organized a car repair service in which he killed the vehicle owners in order to sell their cars.

  • Oleg Naumov
    1978 · military personnel

    Oleg Vladimirovich Naumov (Russian: Оле́г Влади́мирович Нау́мов; born 1978) is a Russian mass murderer, convicted for the killing of seven people on 26 January 1998, in Sakhalin Oblast.

  • Sergey Maduev
    1956–2000

    Sergey Alexandrovich Maduev (Russian: Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Маду́ев; born Ali Arbievich Maduev (Russian: Али́ Арби́евич Маду́ев); 17 June 1956 – 10 December 2000) was one of the famous Soviet brigands, as well as a serial killer.

  • Zelimkhan
    Zelimkhan
    1872–1913 · Abrek

Showing 9 of 12. Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

Sol-Iletsk, Sol-Iletsk 461505
Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

16/100
Moderate concern16/100
Overcrowding
5/30
Oversight reports
6/30
Structural flags
5/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · Operating at 100% of design capacity
  • · 1 oversight report in the last 5 years
  • · Substantial documented known-issues record

Compared to other facilities in Russia

1218 peers
Conditions risk scorethis: 16/100 · peers avg: 22/100 (27%)

Higher risk than 0% of peer facilities in Russia.

Capacity (beds)this: 700 · peers avg: 7552 (91%)

Reports

  • Russia Behind Bars1 Aug 2022

    Documented patterns of psychological isolation and movement-with-blindfold rituals applied to all inmates regardless of risk assessment.

    source

Data completeness

96%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources