For the first time in history, a prisoner has escaped from Russia's Black Dolphin maximum-security prison in the Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.
Prison officials announced on October 25 that Aleksandr Aleksandrov, 32, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2012 for robbery, managed to escape on October 22. A manhunt has been launched.
The IK-6 colony near the town of Sol-Iletsk got its nickname because of a fountain with a sculpture of a black dolphin on the penitentiary's territory.
It has been regarded as one of Russia's most severe prison camps since 1745.
In 2000, the penitentiary was reconstructed and turned into Russia's largest facility for prisoners serving life sentences.
Individuals, mainly residents of the Orenburg region, convicted for lesser crimes are also kept in the penitentiary.
