FANCY BARS

Russian Prison Cells ‘Fitted With TVs for the World Cup’

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny says Putin’s prisons have gotten a makeover.

Russian prisons have been fixed up for the World Cup, according to the country’s opposition leader. Improvements include the installation of LCD TV screens in cells for prisoners to watch games, restaurant-quality food, and World Cup-branded souvenirs to take as keepsakes when you’re released. Alexei Navalny, set free after a month behind bars for organizing protests against President Vladimir Putin, wrote in an Instagram post announcing his release Thursday that he was pleasantly surprised by Russia’s fancy new prisons. “In all cells, renovation was completed,” he wrote. “[Bars] painted. Instead of holes in the floor (sorry for such details) put the toilet.” The food “is now better than in restaurants,” with grilled meat kebabs as the main course, imported non-alcoholic beers to wash them down, and tiramisu for dessert. “Everyone who goes out [gets] a gift: a little book with laws and dominoes (or backgammon) with the symbols of the championship,” he wrote. “I chose backgammon.”