How are Russian prisons?

Are they worse than America?

The Russians use a system where the government only guards the outside perimeter and administrates the prison. Order and discipline inside the prison is maintained by prisoners selected by the administrator. There are no standards for food, exercise and sanitation. Often they have many prisoners stuffed into a very small area and a solitary cell is a 5 by 7 foot area with no sunlight.

All prisons aren't the same either in Russia or the US. In the US some are old, very rough and dangerous places while others are pleasant living quarters where essentially the only punishment is loss of liberty.

From the prisoner's point of view, unquestionably US prisons are much more hospitable places than those in Russia and federal prisons are a better place to be than state prisons in the US. An inmate will likely spend more time in the federal system due to manditory sentencing guidelines though.