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Welcome to LTP

In Belarus, people are locked up to wean them off alcohol. These are strange places where time seems to have stopped after the fall of Soviet Union.

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Gallery
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The director of Labour Treatment Profilactorium nº1 for alcohol addicted in Belarus shows a list of the inmates. He preferred not to show his face. LTP is a part of the penal system. Belarus is among the few countries in the world that still punish addicts with incarceration. There are eight LTP in Belarus, each housing about 1,600 inmates. There is one women-only LTP, the others are for men. The main treatment is labour, and camomile tea. – © Irina Popova
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© Irina Popova
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The first Labour Treatment Profilactoria appeared in the USSR in 1967, in what is now Kazakhstan. An inmate cooks food for cattle as part of his ‘treatment’.
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© Irina Popova
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Citizens are sent to the so-called LTP by order of the regional courts for a period of six months to two years. Their decision is final, with no right to appeal. Human rights activists in the Soviet Union called the LTP part of the Soviet “punitive psychotherapy” system. A line for bread during lunch. The consumption of food is strictly regulated per person. – © Irina Popova
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© Irina Popova
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Identity cards for each inmate are kept in special boxes. These contain all the essential information: term served, labour prescribed, and where the inmate goes for obligatory work hours. In Belarus there are eight functioning LTPs, each housing about 1,600 people, with only one of them specifically for women. The main treatment is manual labour – and camomile tea. – © Irina Popova
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A new inmate, freshly shaved and staying in the blue-pink room for new arrivals. Labour Treatment Profilactorium for alcohol addicted in Belarus. LTP is a part of the penal system and Belarus is the only country in the world that still practices the punishment of obligatory incarceration for addicts. – © Irina Popova
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The residential area is comprised of a dormitory with beds, an educational work room, locker room, laundry room, medical unit, clubhouse and a barber shop. The door of the isolation cell (a place for severe punishment) – © Irina Popova
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A strange hybrid of rehab and prison, Belarus’s Labour Treatment Profilactorium for the Alcohol and Drug-Addicted is a Soviet-era programme still used as part of the country’s penal system. Men and women with substance abuse issues can be incarcerated here for extended lengths of time, despite committing no crime. Here, the inmates are photographed during their obligatory labour sessions, removing copper wire from its protective plastic. – © Irina Popova
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After the collapse of the USSR, the LTP system was abolished in most former Soviet republics. In 1993, Boris Yeltsin eliminated all the labour treatments centres in Russia.For inmates, life in the LTP is surrounded by signs, instructions, regulations and rules. An man washes his hands before dinner, under the sign ‘Save the water, close the tap’. – © Irina Popova
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Eduard Goroschenya (nickname "Bedya") reads an old newspaper clipping, his only source of information about the outside world. Eduard was a former local mafia boss in Bobruisk, and is now serving his sixth two-years term in the LTP. He has returned each time within a matter of days – © Irina Popova
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Men eat soup in the canteen during the lunch break. The calorie intake of each detainee is highly regulated, and all consumption is checked.The food is very plain. – © Irina Popova
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Labour Treatment Profilactorium for alcohol addicted in Belarus. LTP is a part of penal system, and Belarus is the only country of the world who still practices punishment of obligatory isolation for the addicts. – © Irina Popova
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The inmates during a break from their obligatory labour treatment - removing copper wire from its protective plastic. Labour Treatment Profilactorium for alcohol addicted in Belarus. LTP is a part of the penal system and Belarus is the only country in the world that still practices the punishment of obligatory incarceration for addicts. There are five LTP in Belarus, each housing about 1600 inmates. One LTP is for women, the others are all male. The main treatment is labour, and camomile tea. – © Irina Popova
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At present, LTPs remain in operation only in Belarus, Turkmenistan and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Men take a break from manual labour. – © Irina Popova
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A man stands in front of a wall, waiting for his obligatory work hours to pass. The messages on the wall detail the exact times of allowed breaks along with the pointed warning: ‘Forbidden to sit on wood’ – © Irina Popova
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Men during their obligatory labour ‘treatment’ – washing the walls of the factory building. Most of the incarcerated men do unqualified labour without the possibility to study or improve their skills. – © Irina Popova
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Labour Treatment Profilactorium for alcohol addicted in Belarus. LTP is a part of penal system, and Belarus is the only country of the world who still practices punishment of obligatory isolation for the addicts. – © Irina Popova
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This is a strange place where so many strange men are contained for a long time with a strange reason of closing them from the rest of society.

Labour Treatment Profilactorium in Belarus are the only remains of “Punitive Medicine” system of Soviet Union. In Russian language it is called LTP - its abbreviation for its long and senseless name -.

The alcohol addicted are put in these places by force for 2 years as a rule. It is sufficient to have three complaints by family or neighbours to get here. Compulsory treatment consists of hard labour, strict regime and sometimes herbal potion as a single treatment.
The money gained by the compulsory workers are put to the government in order to contain this system and sometimes for aliments - compulsory payment for left families and children.

The first LTP emerged in Soviet Union in 1961. Then all these institutions were closed in Russia during the Perestroika in the 90’s. And now Belarus is the only country that practices this system. I do not have an answer on the question if this system is justice or not.
I neither know about the effectiveness of it. (But the major doctor say that only five percent of all patients stop drinking after it).
I cannot say anything about the Human rights (but the Ministry of Interior say that the rights of surrounding people are more important that the rights of the alcoholists).
I just want to put all these questions by telling a story about a strange place where so many strange men are contained for a long time with a strange reason of closing them from the rest of society.

Usually, my installation consists of several images, mounted on the wine boxes and hidden behind a metal net, standing for general wine drinking and severe imprisonment for it, artificial environment, cage.

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Irina Popova

Photographer

Born in 1986 in Tver, Russia, Irina Popova is a documentary photographer, writer and editor.
A graduate of the Tver State University School of Journalism, Popova studied photography at FotoDepartament, St. Petersburg, in 2007. In 2008-2010, she studied documentary photography and mixed media at the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia.Popova worked as a staff writer and photographer for Ogoniok Magazine in Moscow from 2008-2009. In 2010, she moved to the Netherlands, and was artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam from 2011-2012. In 2013, Popova co-founded the Dostoevsky Photography Society collective. In 2013-2014, she curated an exhibition FFABRU/Foreign Fotographers About Russia, as part of the Open Border Festival, Amsterdam; subsequently the exhibition toured to ten Russian cities.

Irina Popova has participated in numerous exhibitions and photography festivals in Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Burma, and Lisbon, including the Photoquai Biennale, Paris and the Noorderlicht and Breda Photo international festivals in the Netherlands. Her work has been published by Lenta.ru; Afisha Mir; Russian Reporter; Ogoniok; the Guardian; Geo International; the New York Times; Gup Magazine; and Lens Culture. Popova’s work is included in the collections of the Russian State Museum; Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; and the Rijksakademie Amsterdam.

In 2014, Popova published the photo books Another Family and If You Have a Secret. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including Delphic Games of Russia (2006, 2007, 2008); Young Photographers of Russia (2008 and 2010); Best Photographer of Russia (2009); the UNICEF prize honorable mention (2009); Award of Fund of Development of Photojournalism, Russia (2009); and nomination for the Marie Claire Photo Award (2012), Pride Photo Award (Amsterdam, 2013), Photobook Dummy Award (Kassel, 2015)? Gomma Grant (2016). Was published in Le Photo magazine, the Guardian, Sunday Times, GUP magazine, GEO International, FOAM. Was exhibited at Photo Quai Biennale (Paris, France, 2012), P///AKT Gallery (Amsterdam, 2013) Hermitage Museum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2014), Pickpocket Gallery (Lisbon, Portugal, 2014), Social Photo Fest (Perugia, Italy, 2014), FotoArt Festival (Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 2015), VOID Gallery (Derry, Northern Ireland, 2015), Fotofest (Houston, USA, 2015), UNSEEN Photo Fair (Amsterdam, 2015), Metenkov House of Photography (Ekaterinburg, Russia, 2016), Riga Photo Festival (Latvia, 2017). Currently resides between Amsterdam and St. Petersburg.

Visit her website here.
The book Welcome to LTP can be ordered here

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