Black Dolphin Prison/Wikimedia CommonsAlexander Maslich, one of the masterminds behind the Russian prison cannibalism plot.
In 1994, three prisoners in a Russian penal colony devised a plan. They were being held in the punishment and isolation unit of a penal colony, UB-14/9, in Rubtsovsk, Russia. Life in the colony was strict and monotonous, and three prisoners — Alexander Maslich, Alexei Dzyuba, and Alexei Goluzov — had grown sick of it.
So, the men decided that they were going to find a way to leave. Their hope was that they could feign insanity and be sent to Moscow for psychiatric evaluation.
But how does someone obtain a declaration of insanity while already behind bars? The approach these men landed on was “killing and eating one of their fellow prisoners.”
The Cannibalism Plot Takes Shape
Barring any major incident, the continued presence of Maslich, Goluzov, and Dzyuba in the penal colony was assured. All had previous convictions, and Maslich had already murdered two other men while behind bars.
Still, the group was determined to find some way to leave the prison. Their minds quickly turned to a declaration of insanity — something that they thought would be more convincing if they killed another prisoner.
One day, they got an opportunity to put this plan into action. A new prisoner was placed in their cell, but when the group tried to attack him, he ably resisted, fighting them off until he could secure a transfer.
Dinamik/Wikimedia CommonsThe macabre crime occurred at a penal colony in Rubtsovsk, Russia, near the border of Kazakhstan.
Sensing this route to freedom was a failure, Dzyuba proposed a more dramatic plot. He allegedly told the group, “What if we try some human flesh? Cannibals are sent straight to Moscow.”
Maslich thought it was a good idea. In fact, the killer had reportedly previously attempted cannibalism, but he did not actually consume any flesh. This time, however, was different. Maslich appeared truly committed. To that end, he wrote a message on a cardboard sign about wanting to eat someone, later adding images of a dismembered body.
With the whole group on board, they waited for another prisoner to be placed in their cell. However, no one ever arrived. So, Maslich and Goluzov decided that they would enact the plan anyway — on Dzyuba.
The Murder Of Alexei Dzyuba
One night in July 1994, Maslich and Goluzov took hold of Dzyuba. As Dzyuba awoke, Maslich placed a cloth around his neck and pulled it tightly while Goluzov held the man’s legs. Soon, Dzyuba was dead. Once the job was complete, the pair improvised a fire and began to dismantle Dzyuba’s body with a safety razor. After drinking some of his blood, they threw his organs into a washbasin and placed it over the fire.
How much of the body the pair actually ate is debated. A 2003 retrospective from Russian outlet Altapress claimed that both men ate the human meat and drank the “broth” from the washbasin. However, there are also reports that Goluzov refused to eat any part of Dzyuba at all.
Maslich allegedly attempted to bite into a piece of his liver but could not swallow it. Investigators later found a piece of liver with tooth marks on it.
Later investigations suggest that the pair largely simulated cannibalism rather than actually going through with it. Still, they certainly wanted the prison guards to believe they ate Dzyuba. The morning after the murder, Maslich reportedly greeted the guards with a proud, “We ate Dzyuba! For real!”
Were The Men Declared Insane?
This chilling plan actually achieved the pair’s intended outcome — partially, at least. Soon after the murder, both men were taken from the prison and given psychiatric evaluations.
That said, they were declared legally sane. Forensic expert Sergey Voronin met Maslich shortly after the killing and noted that he spoke coherently, was polite, and did not exhibit any behavior that would suggest that he’d lost touch with reality.
Lyudmila Ivanova/Wikimedia CommonsAfter he was declared legally sane, Alexander Maslich was sent to Russia’s infamous Black Dolphin Prison until his death in 2015.
“Strangely enough, he gave the impression of being a pleasant person,” Voronin told Altapress in 2021. “His speech was coherent and educated. His behavior was appropriate and even polite. According to the isolation unit staff, he had not displayed any aggressive outbursts toward them either.”
“He wanted to be declared legally insane, and he created an entire story to achieve that,” Voronin explained.
Consequently, both Maslich and Goluzov were found criminally responsible and made to stand trial. In July 1995, the ruling came down: Goluzov would receive an additional 15 years in prison, while Maslich would be executed. This death sentence was later commuted to life in prison, and Maslich died behind bars in 2015 of unknown causes.
After reading about the Russian prisoners who cannibalized their cellmate, go inside the five worst prisons in the world. Then, learn about the alleged “Cannibal Island” where Soviet prisoners were forced to eat each other.
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