Lithuanian Catholic priest Alfonsas Svarinskas believes labor camps in the USSR are the “barometers of Soviet reality.” In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, he recounted that in July 1988, when he was released from the notorious Perm 35 labor camp, the authorities were building stronger fences. “Never have the fences been built so high as they have during perestroika,” he said.
Yet signs are emerging that even in the most remote places, such as Perm 35, new openness is taking place. There are indications the Soviets are considering reform in labor camps and prisons, and they may soon allow Christian ministry there—something unthinkable even a few months ago.
Federal Bureau of Prisons Director J. Michael Quinlan and Prison Fellowship International Chairman Charles Colson are hammering out the details of a fact-finding tour of Soviet prisons and correctional labor facilities. At press time, a definite date had not yet been negotiated, but a Colson representative said it could be as soon as the first week of November. A major goal of the trip would be to encourage the Soviets to improve the condition of prisons, a long-standing complaint of human-rights agencies in the West.
According to Prison Fellowship executive assistant James Jewell, the organization is optimistic about the possibility of setting up a branch in the Soviet Union. “Certainly things that seemed impossible just a short time ago seem possible now,” Jewell said.
The groundwork for the Colson and Quinlan visit was laid in August by an American delegation to the Soviet Union headed by U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.), both members of the Helsinki Commission on Human Rights. Wolf, Smith, and State Department official Richard Stephenson became the first Western government officials allowed into the Perm 35 labor camp, which has been home to many prisoners of conscience, including human-rights activist Natan Scharansky. The three were allowed to speak with camp officials and prisoners, to take the first photographs of the inside of a labor camp, and to document their visit on videotape.
The labor camp obviously had been spruced up for the occasion, said the American delegation. The facilities were shiny clean, and flowers had been placed in the dormitories. Smith said he got whitewash on the back of his coat from leaning against freshly painted walls.
Nonetheless, he and Wolf reported conditions were deplorable. For example, the delegation was allowed to see and videotape the shizo, or isolation cell, where cold and solitude are used to punish prisoners who break camp rules. The tiny cell has no furniture except a cement block, and a hole in the corner serves as the latrine. A wooden bunk folds down from the wall for sleeping, but no mattress, bedding, or blankets are allowed to help shield a prisoner from the Ural Mountain weather. “Glasnost has not come to the gulag,” Smith said. As a result of their conversations with Perm 35 prisoners, the congressmen said they believe political prisoners are still being held. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had announced otherwise a year ago.
Included among those prisoners, said the congressmen, are Aleksandr Goldovich, a Byelorussian Christian caught trying to escape the USSR on a rubber raft; and Mikhail Kazchkov, a Jewish dissident arrested a week after he applied for emigration. (Kazchkov was reportedly moved to another camp soon after the congressmen’s visit.)
Wolf and Smith, both active Christians, passed out Bibles to 21 of the 23 prisoners they visited in Perm 35. In addition, they received verbal assurances from Soviet officials that “necessary quantities” of Bibles will be allowed in all correctional facilities, and that pastors, clergy, and church laymen will be granted permission to visit prisons.
Upon their return, Wolf and Smith have been campaigning for the Soviets to release all Perm 35 prisoners, improve conditions in all prisons, and expand progress on human rights. They have also been urging Americans to write letters to Soviet officials and prisoners about the situation. “People in the West do make a difference; they all told us that,” Wolf said.
Although Wolf and Smith are attempting to take advantage of the current opportunities, they acknowledged the situation in the USSR is far from stable. New openings can quickly close, they pointed out. For his part, Father Svarinskas remains skeptical about the motivations of glasnost. He believes the Soviets opened the Perm 35 camp because they are getting “desperate” economically. Noting that the old repressive laws are still on the books, Svarinskas said Soviet Christians remain “quite nervous about the future.”
By Kim A. Lawton.
