War behind bars: Civilian prisoners and carceral warfare in Russia-occupied Ukrainian territories

Abstract This article examines how civilian detention was weaponized during Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories after the 2022 invasion. It focuses civilian prisoners—detained or incarcerated under Ukrainian law for non-combat-­related offences—who became subject to Russian control when prisons were seized, repurposed and, in some cases, integrated into the Russian penal system. Drawing on over 300 testimonies from five occupied facilities, the article documents patterned abuses including torture, forced labour, coerced naturalization and ideological indoctrination, alongside the military use of prison infrastructure. It advances the concept of carceral warfare to capture how prisons operate as spaces where legal authority, coercion and violence are reconfigured for military ends, erasing the distinction between penal governance and war-making. By centring prisons as arenas of wartime governance, the article contributes to scholarship on penal sovereignty and occupation regimes, while highlighting the need for stronger legal protections for prison populations ­during armed conflict.