Articles

 New prison of Minsk and its inhabitants

In 1825 three stored building with the four round towers in “retrospective castle” style was built on the western outskirts of Minsk. It is hard to say weather the place for the prison (there used to be the waste ground of Romanovskoe suburb). It is also hard to answer the question weather the building of the fortified prison in Minsk was nothing but the coincidence with the signed year for the Russian Empire. After all as the  iron gates of the Pischallovski castle (the prison was named after its architect) were opened thousands of the Decembrist associates, who were on the Senate square of St. Petersburg, passed over them. And only in five years hundreds of Byelorussian patriots (the participants of the national independence rebellion of 1830-1831) were in the cells of new city prison…

Minsk government prison – the official name – was for 246 people (by the way nowadays there are more than 2200 people!). Till the summer 1825 the “living place” for all Minsk convicted was an old wood fenced prison in Gubernskaya street (nowadays there is the 3d clinical hospital, Lenin str., 30-32). However at the beginning of the 1820s the old prison decrepitude became so strong that Governor of Minks Getsevich addressed to the Empire Minister of the Interior and asked to allow the building of a new city prison.

Special committee calculated the cost of the new prison: 239.283 rubles and 20 kopeek. The auction took place in December 1821 during which the right to build the prison was gained by the landowner (and the architect) Rudolf Pischallo, who later headed the government prison committee. He announced he would build “stone castle with the fence and the iron roof” spending “only” 226.850 rubles, i.e. 12.433 rubles and 20 kopeek cheaper: that time that was significant sum. Under the contract Pischallo was obliged to begin on the 15^th of May, 1822 and to finish on the 15^th of May 1825.

“In December 1824 Pischallo reported that the building had been over and he is asking to put the prison in the possession of the government, what was done on the 30^th of January 1825” – Modest Mudrov, the director of the prison committee is writing in the report about the prison committee activity in 1869. During his government there was set school, library in Pischallovski castle, the hospital was enlarged as well (till the middle of the 19^th century sick prisoners were not paid any attention, only sometimes seriously ill convicts were sent to the bonfires priests).

Soon after the putting the prison in the possession of Minsk policeman it was decided to move the prisoners here, previously sanctifying the castle with the church in. "Высокопреосвященнейший archbishop Anatoly  - Mudrov writes – ordered to fulfill this to a member of Consistory, to the priest Shimanovsky. But as the church was build with the alter to the west the priest, arriving on the 27^th of May, refused to sanctify it and the prison as well. Meanwhile the old prison decrepitude demanded the immediate move of the convicts to the new one, and government insisted on the sanctifying of the prison only till the rebuilding of the church ".

It is interesting to know that the church, that demanded the changing of alter from the west to the east, was rebuilt only in 1829. But the public worships were not regular and the clergymen were invited when there was need in them. The constant orthodox priest appeared in the Pischallovsky castle only in March 1851. From time to time catholic and protestant priests visited the place. Jewish made a small chapel in one of the cells that was attended by rabbi on big holidays. On the other floor in the special room condemned Minsk Muslims prayed.

At the beginning of the 30s of the 19^th century “to suppress inactivity and disgust for the work in prisoners” not far from the Pischallovky castle there was created a small garden which was developed by the prisoners and the products from this garden became the food. But as far as the prisoners were careless, stole vegetables, it was decided to farm the garden out to contractor. Also the administration was not succeeded in attracting the prisoners to the rye grinding. In 1837 the prison committee bought several hand mills but the prisoners (the work was very hard for them) deliberately spoilt many tools, so the tools needed to be repaired. As the result at the beginning of the 1850s all mills were sold.

Nevertheless we can not tell that Minsk prisoners didn’t want to work. “The only inactivity is hard for them as well  - Mudrov reminds – so many of them asked for some work and wanted to set workshops”. Besides the work in joiner’s, tailor’s and shoe workshops the prisoners baked bread, weaved rapes, constructed banks over cemeteries outside Minsk and scattered bridges in the city, according to the report of 1851. And in 1857 Pischallovsky prisoners destroyed the ancient building of the town council in Verhny Gorod (High Town).

The gained money were partly spent on better food and partly were given to the prisoners. Everyone was able to spend them the way they liked on the small market that was set… in the yard of the prison. The evidence of this can be an interesting description of a usual 19^th century prison made by Andrey Zaerko in the book ”Belarus prisons”:

"In the yard with a high stone fence during the whole day there were different people: horse thieves and rogues, drunk officials and old dissidents. The yard reminded market, more over merchants of possible goods and chattels darted in and out. There was sold makhorka for gags, shirts without sleeves, sprat for vodka and so on ".