A company called Zashchishchennye Telekommunikatsii, which operates the Zonatelecom service, has launched Russia's first messaging app for communicating with prisoners, called Tochka Kontakta (Point of Contact). The human rights project First Department drew attention to the development.
The app is currently operational in three colonies: Penal Colony No. 6 in the Pskov region, and Penal Colonies No. 6 and No. 7 in the Leningrad region. Relatives can use the app on their smartphones, while inmates access it through terminals installed in the facilities.
Through Tochka Kontakta, users can send text, voice and video messages, as well as photos and files. An inmate must first add the interlocutor's number to a list of contacts approved by the colony's administration.
All messages undergo review by a censor. The service warns that this review typically takes up to three working days.
The service is paid. A short message of up to 200 characters costs 3.09 rubles (about $0.03), while a letter of up to 2,500 characters costs 35 rubles (about $0.37). Sending a voice or video message costs between 3.99 and 7.99 rubles depending on length, and a photo costs 3.99 rubles. First Department noted that this is twice as cheap as sending a form through Zonatelecom or the FSIN-letter service, where one letter costs 75 rubles.
Inmates can also subscribe to entertainment content packages covering sports, music, humor and news. A subscription to one section costs 99 rubles; the duration of the subscription is not specified.
The developers promise that Tochka Kontakta will soon appear in the App Store, Google Play and RuStore. For now, the app can be downloaded directly from the website as an APK file for Android.
Russian law allows convicts to send and receive an unlimited number of letters, postcards and telegrams at their own expense, but all correspondence is subject to censorship. Personal mobile phones are banned in colonies; calls are made through installed devices and terminals. A conversation may last no more than 15 minutes, is paid for by the inmate or their relatives, and can be monitored by colony staff.