A photographer spent a year documenting inmates in Bulgaria’s most notorious prison, home to the country’s largest number of criminals serving life sentences for murder.

Vladimir Karamazov became the first photographer to be granted access to the infamous Belene Prison, located in northern Bulgaria on the border with Romania. It is the country’s most heavily guarded prison of its kind. Deliberately built on an island, escape is considered nearly impossible, and for that reason it houses the largest number of convicted murderers imprisoned for life in Bulgaria.

Karamazov spent a full calendar year photographing the prison and getting to know both current and former inmates, prison staff, and others connected to the facility for his firsy photobook, For the Grace of God which will be published by GOST Books next month. Through the project, Karamazov sought to connect with the men behind bars, learn their stories, and better understand the circumstances that led to their crimes.

The photographs, taken between October 2023 and November 2024, capture the prison’s architecture, barbed-wire fences, brick walls, and the snowdrifts surrounding its island setting. At the heart of the book are portraits of prisoners in their cells and alongside fellow inmates, including people serving life sentences for murder as well as pickpockets, gamblers, and thieves. The book also includes drawings, letters, poems, and testimonies collected by Karamazov during his visits and through lengthy conversations with the prisoners. Together, they offer a rare glimpse into the lives of those incarcerated at Belene Prison.

“Ordinary citizens in my country know nothing about prisons and have no real idea what it means to be confined or to serve a sentence of deprivation of liberty,” Karamazov says. “That is why I wanted to show the project to the public — to open this door and reveal the reality, to tell the stories and demonstrate that a crime often has roots in childhood and that, very often, we as a society are also to blame because of our inaction.”

“Тhe people in the basement are just as real as those in the “light” outside. And one way to bring more light into the basement, to help more people come out into the light, is for someone to dare to open the door,” he adds. “I hope this book offers a different, humane perspective toward the most hated people, to show that they are human beings too.”

For the Grace of God by Vladimir Karamazov will be published in August 2026 by GOST Books.

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Image creditsAll photos © Vladimir Karamazov.