The environment is starting to close in on me.
I can't stop my heart pounding.
The girl was strangled.
For 26 years.
The question is, what is the actual goal of the criminal punishment?
Just for the person to die in prison?
Just thrown in jail, and that's it! That's it!
That's it.
Year of birth?
Let's go.
The environment is starting to close in on me.
I can't stop my heart pounding.
Come in here.
Show me your legs and face.
The year this happened?
Fifteen centimeters.
What is this injury?
When you have such a distinctive scar coming down the side of your face,
it's gonna follow me around the prison.
Vasea, you open it. Run.
-Go to the boss. -Go upstairs.
You will be placed in a cell
where there are two more prisoners
with life sentences.
Don't ask any questions
and don't start any arguments.
I'd advise him
to be just the way he is.
Tell him.
Look, this goes here! Can't you manage it?
Tell him this is what respect looks like.
Somehow, the sheets are too white, even for his first night.
Lilian, make coffee.
-There's no room. -I'll make some room.
Yes.
After we eat, I clear the table, sweep,
and Maxim washes the dishes.
That's how we do it
That's how we get along. That's how we've always done it.
Twenty-seven.
Made in USSR.
I almost went crazy.
But thank God, I kept my sanity.
We are trying to live by the official rules of the prison.
And follow the Bible.
We don't support gangs, or anything like that.
Surprises, surprises!
-Play him first. -Let's go.
England. Moldova. Concede defeat!
Have mercy! Have mercy on him!
One! One point!
Nineteen years.
I didn't participate directly in the murder.
The question is,
what is the goal of the criminal punishment?
Just for the person to die in the prison?
Very weird.
The first years when I was here, yeah, it was maybe a pain for me.
But when I know when I am a lifer,
I… I understand it.
Because, uh, when you have years, years, for example,
you know it's a real possibility to be there.
But when you're a lifer, you have no chance.
Our chance is, uh, so little.
And I cannot say it is chance for real.
Anatol.
Yes.
With this tool, we shape the wood.
With this one, we cut.
We are making a jewelry box.
Like this.
Like this. Like this. Like this. Put your hand here. Like this.
Before the pandemic,
the prison auctioned them for us.
They gave us 50% of the money and put it in our prison accounts.
No, no. From here. Like this. You should do it like this.
Make it the same as this.
Paying our electricity bill here
and buying things from the market.
Here we need money.
For 26 years.
And 20 years here in Rezina.
I am here five days a week.
You are free in your own mind.
You are one-on-one with the tool and with what you do.
This is pleasure.
Whether we are in detention or in freedom, we must work.
That's why we're men.
I have whole notebooks.
I write about my life. I write about my past.
I write about my present. I write about my future.
Everything.
I put my soul into this and my heart.
Each word is written with a tear of blood, because
for me, the thought of my family is all.
I like music a lot.
I don't want to disturb other inmates,
so I've turned it down a bit.
There is a voice brought by the wind
It's like your voice, honey, whispering
You left me a long time ago
My wounded and sorrowful soul
You left me a long time ago…
There is a voice brought by the wind
It's like your voice, honey, whispering
Oh, it's great!
My tears are now dry
The tears of love once flowed
I don't know if anything really helps.
I've been living with this for 18 years.
This is my inner pain.
My torment.
And that's what I live with. My only hope is with God.
Yes? This is the easiest job I can offer you.
A little smaller!
My question is, why are you ruining this food?
I killed a woman and her niece.
I would plow for them. I would bring them wood, help them.
The cause of all this was alcohol.
Oh, the niece was
17 or 18 years old.
But Grandma,
60 or 55, something like that. I don't remember.
The girl was strangled,
and the grandmother was hit on the head with stone.
That's how.
I still can't explain to myself why it happened!
I had everything, you know?
Alcohol!
Alcohol causes the biggest problems on earth!
Sit there. I need another chair.
I don't know where the little one is.
This is spare, like for guests.
You heard what I told you.
What I ask you is,
do I deserve life imprisonment or not?
You know--
Years have passed.
Years!
Nobody assesses whether I've changed.
Just thrown in jail, and that's it.
That's it!
The most important thing about hope is that it does die last.
Just don't forget, for me, the torment and suffering go on.
The law is functioning as it should.