Sukhanovo Prison, Former Soviet prison near Vidnoye, Russia.
Sukhanovo Prison is a former Soviet detention facility near Vidnoye built on the grounds of a former monastery. The complex had two main buildings, with one containing 68 cells that once served monks and later housed interrogation chambers for political prisoners.
The NKVD established the facility in 1938 as Special Object 110 and operated it as a high-security prison until its closure in 1958. Over the decades, the site served different purposes: it functioned as a labor colony, then as a maximum-security detention center, and later as a prison hospital.
The site was a center of repression where political opponents were held under extreme conditions. The buildings still carry traces of this period and serve as a reminder of the suffering that took place.
The site now functions as a monastery and can be visited with proper planning. You can explore the former cells and learn about the facility's dual history, though respect for the religious nature of the current use is important.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn documented the conditions at this facility in his writings, describing it as the harshest Soviet detention center. His accounts made the place a significant testimony to oppression in Soviet repression history.
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