WSJ details horrific conditions of infamous prison where reporter is being held: 'Completely alone'

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Russian prison watchdog claims detained WSJ reporter is in good spirits

Greg Palkot reports WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich is handling the situation 'well.'

The Wall Street Journal published a report Wednesday detailing the inhumane conditions prisoners face at Lefortovo, the infamous Russian prison where WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich is being held. Gershkovich became the first overseas reporter charged with espionage since the Cold War.

According to the Journal, the rooms in the prison are designed to prevent prisoners from seeing one another or engaging in any social interaction.

"Nestled on the leafy side streets of a quiet neighborhood in eastern Moscow, Lefortovo has since the late Czarist era held thousands of accused spies, dissidents, writers, rebels, and all other manner of political prisoners and hardened criminals," the Journal reported.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a plenary session at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 7, 2022. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Prisoners in Lefortovo are prevented from seeing the outside world, other than the sky through a small window.

"Translucent windows barely a foot long are set above eye level so inmates can only see the Moscow sky, according to recollections from former inmates, family and visitors to the prison," the Journal reported. "Inmates receive a daily hour outside their cell, usually in one of the cell-sized courtyards on the roof, where they walk under a mesh of iron bars. The prisoners aren’t handcuffed, but asked to walk with hands crossed behind their backs. Guards, armed with automatic rifles, peer down from a gangway above." 

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Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia in December 2018, holds a message as he stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to decide to extend his detention at the Lefortovo Court in Moscow on October 24, 2019. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

The prison is named after an adviser to Russian czar Peter the Great and was used for torture by Stalin's forces during the 20th century.

"In Lefortovo, the Soviet Union is in the air, it never died," Igor Rudnikov, a journalist who was kept in Lefortovo in 2018, told the Journal.

"Prisoners aren’t allowed to make phone calls or send emails and several inmates said they had to wait months to see a lawyer," the report continued.

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Last week, Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich, who is the Journal's Moscow bureau reporter, on charges of espionage on behalf of the U.S. The publication has denied the charges and called for Gershkovich's release. 

Gershkovich will receive an appeal hearing by a Russian court, according to a Moscow spokesperson on Thursday.

Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.