In 1919, an unusual exhibit was given to the museum of the Saratov Academic Archive Commission - a straitjacket from Saratov’s temporary penal colony. It is made of thick tanned leather. Long belts, approximately 1.5 meters in length, are attached to the ends of the sleeves, sides and bottom of the jacket. In addition, ten metal rings are fixed to the sides of the jacket to allow the tying belts to be pulled more tightly. Straightjackets like this were drawn very tight on purpose, so that all the flaps of fabric were pulled together when the restraining belts were tightened. The leather straitjacket was used to punish prisoners. According to reports, the straitjacket would be soaked in water before being put on a prisoner. As it dried out, the jacket would shrink, causing unbearable pain for the wearer.

Ivan Korotkov, who served a custodial sentence as a political prisoner between 1909 and 1910 in Saratov prison recalled the torturous leather straitjacket:

Korotkov survived through two bouts of this punishment. Raisa Guber-Gritz, who was a political prisoner at the Saratov Prison, recalls that they repeatedly threatened to punish her with the straightjacket. She was witnessed the jacket being used on both men and women. The jacket was used for those who had attempted suicide, for refusing to work, for singing revolutionary songs and other minor offenses. Similar details are outlined in the pamphlet entitled ‘The Leather Straitjacket’, produced in 1931.

Four of these jackets were used in Saratov’ prisons. They were produced by the inmates themselves. In 1913, Somkovich, the warden of Saratov Temporary Penal Colony, ordered the inmates who worked as cobblers to make a few more straitjackets, but this lead to an uprising. Inmates who worked as tailors and cobblers eventually went on strike and started a hunger strike. In the end, the prison administration backed down on this issue.