Chris Wiley

In 1991, German photojournalist Hans-Jürgen Burkard captured a rare look inside a prison cell in Leningrad, as the Soviet Union entered its final months. For decades, Soviet prisons had been almost entirely closed to outsiders. Under Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost, or openness, foreign journalists gained access to places the state had long kept hidden. What they found was grim. Cells built for a handful of prisoners often held several times that number. Inmates slept on crowded bunks or in shifts, with little light, poor ventilation, and a single toilet in the corner. Disease, especially tuberculosis, spread easily. Many prisoners waited months or even years for trial in these conditions. Leningrad’s most infamous jail, Kresty, was built in the 1890s for about 1,000 inmates. During the turmoil of the late Soviet and early post-Soviet years, it reportedly held around 10,000. 1991 was a year of upheaval. In June, the city’s residents voted to restore its original name, and that fall, Leningrad officially became St. Petersburg again. By December, the Soviet Union itself had collapsed. Yet behind the prison walls, little changed overnight. Russia’s overcrowded jails remained a stark reminder that the end of an empire didn’t instantly transform the lives of those it had locked away. The most haunting photos ever taken: bit.ly/46yA996