Russia plans a new pretrial detention center outside Moscow. With room for 4,000 detainees, it would be the largest in the country.
Russia’s largest pretrial detention center will be built in the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region. The regional office of the Federal Penitentiary Service has put the construction contract out to bid.
The center will hold up to 4,000 detainees. The complex will cover more than 42 hectares (about 104 acres).
It will include multistory buildings for men and women, as well as separate buildings for people with tuberculosis and criminal gang leaders deemed a harmful influence on other detainees. The complex will also include three buildings with apartment-style accommodations for Federal Penitentiary Service employees.
The complex will be built near the 71-kilometer (44-mile) marker on the M-11 highway, between the villages of Shapkino and Ozhogino.
The starting price for the construction contract is 37.8 billion rubles. Construction is scheduled to be completed in October 2031.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an order in 2022 to build a pretrial detention center for 4,000 people in the Moscow region. The project received final approval from state expert reviewers this past winter.
“Kolpino,” known as “Kresty-2,” is currently considered Russia’s largest pretrial detention center. It was built in a suburb of St. Petersburg in 2017. Construction took 10 years.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.

